No. 8 Stan Wawrinka knocked off world No. 1 Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to claim the 2015 French Open title Sunday.
Wawrinka, who perpetually looks like he just stumbled out of his hotel bed and ran downstairs for the last five minutes of the breakfast buffet, dropped the first set to Djokovic before sweeping the next three. The 30-year-old Swiss star had an impressive showing at the tournament, knocking out the top-ranked Djokovic as well as countryman and second-ranked Roger Federer en route to claiming his first French Open championship and second Grand Slam title.
Djokovic’s defeat comes as somewhat of a surprise. He seemed poise to win the tournament and complete a career Grand Slam after an undefeated run on clay to begin this year. Djokovic handled Andy Murray and destroyed Rafael Nadal in the lead-up to Sunday’s match, but fell just short of Wawrinka in a competitive contest. All the stories about tennis’s changing of the guard—with Nadal having to cede his clay dominance to an in-his-prime Djokovic—will have to wait another year. Although Nadal’s run of nine titles in 10 years seemed to definitively end against Djokovic, Wawrinka provided some hope future French Opens won’t be overwhelmed by a single star.
Video credit: NBC