Stan Wawrinka is the man of the moment at French Open

Prior to the French Open title, Stan Wawrinka was earning more remarks for his colourful apparel, no this tennis. Julian Finney / Getty Images

Preposterous, absurd, ridiculous, outrageous, astonishing and insane were a few of the words used to describe a shot at the French Open men’s final on Sunday, when Stan Wawrinka took the script and stuffed it into the shredder.

This was to be Novak Djokovic’s coronation as the new king of clay, the day of his induction into that elite club of men who have won all four tournaments that make up the grand slam of tennis.

Wawrinka was supposed to be a glorified extra at the ceremony, applauding graciously as the world No 1 lifted that massive Coupe des Mousquetaires.

The Swiss, a first-round loser at Roland Garros 12 months ago, was not expected to be in the final – at six of his previous seven tournaments, which included four Masters, he had failed to win back-to-back matches.

In April, Wawrinka announced his separation from his wife, Ilham Vuilloud, amid rumours of an affair with a rising star on the WTA Tour.

Given those circumstances, few expected Wawrinka to make it to the second week of the tournament.

Instead, his more illustrious compatriot, Roger Federer, was expected to take advantage of a favourable draw and reach the final.

But Wawrinka was ruthless as he dispatched his Swiss compatriot and world No 2 in straight sets in the last eight.

Next, he broke the hearts of the home fans, to defeat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semis.

But it was not his tennis that was making the headlines – rather it was his pyjama-print shorts.

But as the final got past the first set, fans started taking notice of Wawrinka’s stunning repertoire of shots.

They saw his beautiful and lethal backhand that he hits down the line or cross-court with equal precision, and his massive forehand that left one of the best defenders in the game’s history, Djokovic, stunned and stranded – and applauding, albeit begrudgingly.

The Serb could scarcely believe that preposterous backhand – yes, preposterous, absurd, etc – Wawrinka hit in the eighth game of the third set, with Djokovic serving at love-15, 2-5.

As Wawrinka returned a serve, the world No 1 hit a backhand across the court and waited, expecting the Swiss to hit cross-court as well.

Instead, the 2014 Australian Open champion whipped an incredulous around-the-net backhand on the other side.

A stunned Djokovic looked across the net at Wawrinka and then the ball as it sped past him. Seldom has the 11-time major winner looked as helpless and bewildered on court as he looked at that moment.

Wawrinka made Djokovic look ordinary.

But when the Swiss is in that zone, that mindset, according to Mats Wilander, the former world No 1, he is the most dangerous tennis player in the game.

“When Stan plays his best tennis, everyone has to fasten their seat belt,” the Swede told Eurosport in January. “When he plays well, for me he is the most exciting player in the world.”

Wilander’s comments had invited plenty of sneers at the time, but after Wawrinka’s performance at Roland Garros, few can challenge that claim.

Serena Williams, the women’s world No 1 and winner of the women’s title on Saturday, seemed to agree.

“Just wow! I want to play like that,” she wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

That is some tribute, coming from a 20-time grand slam title winner.

Stan, then, is the man of the moment and when he plays like he did the past two weeks, tennis is clearly the winner.

The challenge for him is to sustain it.

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