
For the first time since 2005, neither Rafael Nadal nor Roger Federer hoisted the Coupe des Mousquetaires, the trophy awarded to the men’s champion at the French Open. No surprise there, though; this was the plan. With Nadal unable to return to his high level of play following an injury-riddled end to 2014 and with Federer at a distant world #2, this was finally Novak Djokovic’s time to complete the career Grand Slam and win his first French Open title. All was going according to plan, too; that is, until Stan Wawrinka played what he called “the match of his life.” After 3 hours and 12 minutes of grueling rallies, it was “Stan the Man” who lifted the Cup, while Djokovic held the all-too-familiar silver platter awarded to the runner-up. This was the third time in four years that Djokovic reached the final Sunday at Roland Garros…and yet the title still eludes him.

Djokovic is the undisputed best player in the game today. His grasp on the world’s #1 ranking is so tight that his ATP points total, used to determine world ranking, isn’t too far off from the totals of #2 Federer and #3 Andy Murray combined. But, things haven’t always been this way for Novak.
Early in his career he was more well-known for his antics and personality than his play, famous for his mocking impressions of fellow tour members. But since then, Djokovic has grown into one of the most popular athletes in the world. For years, he showed the potential to hang with Federer and Nadal at the top, but he wasn’t quite able to get over the hump and topple the two dominant figures in the game. He broke through once, claiming the title at the 2008 Australian Open, but it would be three years before he would claim another Grand Slam. During that stretch, he would at times come off to fans as hot-headed and abrasive, a difficult player to root for as a result. Then, the tide began to turn for Novak; everything seemed to click for him both physically and mentally at around the same time, and in 2011 he claimed three of the four Grand Slams.
Since then, Djokovic has grown immensely. In 2013, he married his long-time girlfriend, and when the couple had their first child last October, he talked about how his perspective on the game had changed; that there were some things more important than tennis. He appeared to relax and play with a calm control that no opponent could answer. A self-proclaimed fan of languages, Djokovic has become nearly fluent in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian in addition to his native Serbian. The ability to address crowds in their native languages has endeared him to fans everywhere he goes. Following his matches in this year’s French Open, he addressed the crowd in French to roaring approval. He has worked nearly as hard to win over the French fans as he has to win their elusive title: the title every fan knows he so desperately covets.
So yesterday morning when he was proclaimed the tournament’s runner-up, the crowd acknowledged his efforts with one of the most emotional and stirring ovations you will ever see in sports.

The ovation carried on for 2 minutes and 26 seconds, to be exact, and was only ended because the announcer decided it was about time to recognize Wawrinka as the champion. The extended show of appreciation had the entire crowd at Court Philippe Chatrier, Wawrinka included, on their feet clapping and whistling for its entire duration, and had Djokovic visibly moved as he blinked back tears. The ovation for the champion couldn’t come close to that for Djokovic.
When he finally addressed the crowd, in fluent French, of course, he was as gracious as ever. He thanked the fans, expressing how grateful he was for them, how happy he was for his good friend and frequent practice partner Wawrinka, and vowing to be back for yet another crack at the title in 2016. After the excruciating loss, he still took the time for a one-on-one interview with John McEnroe on the court. At the end of the interview, McEnroe sums up the feelings of all the fans watching, thanking Novak for his sportsmanship and professionalism in defeat, and expressing that he truly is a positive face for the sport of tennis. The consensus most famous man in Serbia may also be the most popular man in tennis, and he has certainly grown up a great deal since his days of grunting and screeching impersonations of Maria Sharapova.
Of course, with all this talk of Djokovic, it’s easy to overlook the champion.
Stan Wawrinka earned this victory. Djokovic was quick to credit him following the match, saying, “It feels like I’m the only player who wants to win this trophy, and nobody wants to win it as much as I do. This is completely untrue.”
Even with the victory, though, it is still easy to ignore Wawrinka. The Swiss native has long played second fiddle in his own country to Federer. His most famous moment might have been carrying the Swiss flag during the opening ceremony in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London after Federer graciously passed along the honor he had been awarded for a third straight Olympics.
Although Stan has consistently remained in the top 15 in the world, he didn’t reach a Grand Slam semifinal until the 2013 U.S. Open when he was 28 years old, past the prime of most men’s tennis players. Nevertheless, at the very next Grand Slam he defeated both Djokovic (quarterfinals) and Nadal (finals) en route to his first career Grand Slam. In doing so, he became the first man to ever win a Grand Slam by defeating both the #1 and #2 seeded players, and his ranking shot up to #3 in the world. Entering this French Open as the #8 seed, he repeated his unprecedented feat, taking out #2 seed Federer in the quarterfinal and #1 seed Djokovic in the final once again.

At the age of 30, his sudden success has been quite remarkable. He is the oldest man to win a grand slam since Andre Agassi in 2003, and his world ranking has now risen to #4. It’s a feel-good story to see Stan finally enjoying such great success, but his age is the reason people don’t want to talk about him too much. History shows us that his window to win is closing just as it seems to be opening.
The greater significance of his victory is what it means for the Big Four era of men’s tennis.
As another Grand Slam comes and goes, the Big Four of Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray have won just three of the last six Grand Slams. This after a streak of 37 combined wins in 40 Grand Slams between 2004 and 2013. In these last six Grand Slams, Wawrinka has won two, as has Djokovic, while Nadal has just one victory and Federer and Murray have none (Marin Cilic, 2014 U.S. Open, has the 6th).
The Big Four Era is clearly in jeopardy. The only constant is time, and this seems to be catching up to the four tennis deities of the past decade-plus. Of course, Federer could reclaim his magic at Wimbledon next month, Djokovic and Murray could dominate the hard court slams of the U.S. and Australian Opens, and Nadal could return from injury to earn his 10th French Open title in 2016. And so would continue the Big Four Era. But just as easily, Federer could lose yet another step as another year passes, Nadal’s body could fail to ever fully recover, and Djokovic and Murray could continue to fall just short, ushering in a new era of men’s tennis.
So which will it be? Only time will tell.
Sources:
http://espn.go.com/tennis/french15/story/_/id/13029559/stan-wawrinka-beats-novak-djokovic-french-open-title
http://www.nbcsports.com/tennis/novak-djokovic-humble-after-loss-french-open-final?guid=nbc_ten_djokovicinterview_150607