It was always going to be difficult to keep the fans in their seats, especially after the two hour and 23-minute New Year’s Day treat served up by Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer earlier in the evening.
The two Spaniards, like gladiators, battled for every point, keeping the fans on the edges of their seats. It was a sumptuous treat of tennis as Ferrer, a man small in size, showed his incredible reach. Nadal, on the other hand, showed his sumptuously soft hands at the net, winning some delectable points with the volley.
Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic, then, had a big act to follow in the second semi-final of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, but unfortunately they disappointed. Especially the reigning French Open champion and world No 4 — the only man to beat Novak Djokovic at grand slams in 2015.
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Wawrinka was cruising, serving for the first set at 5-2 when he suffered an inexplicable meltdown. The Swiss dropped his serve to love, which started a Raonic recovery that saw him win five games on the trot and clinch the opening set 7-5.
Fans must have been left a bit bewildered, for Raonic had little part to play in the turnaround. He did play the points well, but then Wawrinka, for some strange reason, had suddenly gone AWOL.
The Swiss is prone to such disappearances. No wonder, he talks about finding consistency on the courts even though he has won more grand slams over the past two years than Roger Federer, Nadal and Andy Murray combined.
“The biggest challenge for me in 2016 will be to play my best tennis in every tournament,” Wawrinka had said on Thursday. “I still have ups and downs, I still have some matches I lose.”
Of course, nobody doubts his ability to beat the top guys — the men we know as the Big Four — on the big stage. Or his ability to win the majors and the Masters, on any surface. The problem is, as Wawrinka admits, he still loses matches he should be winning without much ado.
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We saw that in 2014 when, after beating Federer in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters, he lost to Dominic Thiem in the first round in Madrid. A few weeks later, the then reigning Australian Open champion looked listless in a straight sets loss to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round of the French Open.
Yet, 12 months later, on the same clay courts of Roland Garros, Wawrinka played some absolutely stunning tennis to beat Djokovic in the final.
So, that is Wawrinka for you. Absolutely unpredictable, for good or bad, and on Friday night, he proved it again. Losing to a man he has beaten in all four of their duels on the ATP, three times in straight sets.
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