Roland Garros 2015 :: Kosarka ~ Odbojka ~ Tenis ~ Ostali sportovi

Sorry Stan, Novak Djokovic is unbeatable and will make history with French Open win

Wawrinka is a great, underrated player, but Djokovic is on another plane right now.

By Chris Chase 21 hours ago,usa today

Surprise finalist and eighth-seeded Stan Wawrinka will be a massive underdog on Sunday when he faces off against the heavily-favored, and perhaps unbeatable, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in a Grand Slam final.

Can Djokovic be topped? Don’t count on it. After all, it took sublime play for Andy Murray to even force a fifth set against Djokovic and that final set was barely competitive at all.

But if the story above sounds familiar — Wawrinka as massive underdog and temporary roadblock toward another major title for one of the modern tennis greats — it’s because it is. At the 2014 Australian Open, Wawrinka was the No. 8 player in the world, playing No. 1 Rafael Nadal, who figured to be a lock for Grand Slam No. 14 and en route to catching Roger Federer for the all-time lead at 17. But something happened on the way to the coronation and Wawrinka won that match over Rafa. Now that he’s in the final against No. 1 Novak Djokovic, again as the eighth seed and again as the massive underdog, he can’t be counted out this time, right?

Sorry to say but … probably. Wawrinka has been tremendous at Roland Garros. He wiped the court with Roger Federer, to whom he had a 2-16 record. In a hostile atmosphere that was rooting on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Wawrinka barely blinked. With the Big Four slowly breaking apart, Wawrinka is suddenly in the conversation as a threat at every Slam.

Even after all that, he’s not beating Djokovic unless something drastic affects the play of Djokovic. If you remember the aforementioned 2014 Australian Open final, Nadal said he felt something tweak in his back during warmups and could barely move for the first two sets, appearing on the verge of tears before staging a remarkable third-set comeback, only to falter in the fourth. Wawrinka barely even celebrated the win out of respect to Rafa’s injury. That injury takes absolutely nothing away from Stan’s victory: staying healthy for seven matches is part of what it takes to win Slams. But that title was aided by some extenuating circumstances.

He won’t get any on Sunday. Djokovic is playing nearly flawless tennis. He rolled over Nadal and had Murray dead to rights before the Scotsman suddenly came to life. Then, Murray tied the match to enter the fifth set. But by the time you had questioned Djokovic’s chances at Roland Garros for the first time, the set was over, with Djokovic cruising 6-1.

Novak Djokovic cannot be stopped. He’s 17-3 lifetime against Stan Wawrinka and will be 18-3 after Sunday. It will be Grand Slam No. 9 and the first Aussie-French men’s double since Jim Courier in 1992. With Nadal ailing and Federer getting closer to 34 than 33, Wimbledon is there for the taking too. If a special year is in the works, it started fourth months ago in Melbourne. But if it’s truly to be, it continues this weekend under the springtime Parisian sun.

Prediction: Novak Djokovic d. Stan Wawrinka, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-1