After a busy fortnight of tennis, the Australian Open reaches its climax tonight with the Men’s Final. Spaniard Rafael Nadal takes on Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in the big match, with AU2.6 million dollars and a Grand Slam title up for grabs at Melbourne Park. While Nadal is a big favourite to win after devastating Roger Federer in the semi-final, Stanislas Wawrinka will be doing everything he can to live up to his new title as Swiss number one.
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Make no mistake, Nadal is a heavy favourite to win this match, with 13 major championships under his belt and the recent slaying of his nemesis Federer. Nadal is on fire at the moment, and has notched up 11 consecutive wins to start 2014. After suffering from injuries over the last couple of years and not playing in last year’s Australian Open due to a stomach virus, it seems the Spaniard is back on top of his game.
While Wawrinka is not expected by many to win tonight, he is playing some great tennis and has knocked off two top 10 players to make it this far. The 8th-seeded Wawrinka has played above and beyond himself in this tournament, taking out former champion Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych in back-to-back matches. A win by the Swiss is certainly not out of the question, although history is not on his side.
In a very worrying statistic for Wawrinka, not only has the Swiss never won a match against Nadal, he has never even won a set. Nadal goes into this final with a 12-0 record against Wawrinka, meaning the Swiss has to come back against 26 straight sets of pain to even get in the game. For this reason alone, Nadal will be expected by almost everyone to win tonight, although make no mistake, this should be a fascinating encounter.
The 13-time Grand Slam title winner says he isn’t underestimating his upcoming opponent, despite his record of wins. “He’s playing great. I know him. He’s a good friend, great guy. So happy for him that he’s in the final. He deserve it. He’s playing better and better every year. He’s serving unbelievable. He’s hitting the ball very strong from the baseline. Very, very quick. Is very difficult to play against him today. I know will be a very, very tough match. If I am not able to play my best, I think I will not have chances because he’s coming to this match with a lot of victories and playing great.”
This is the first Grand Slam final for Wawrinka, who is also the new Swiss number one due to Roger Federer slipping down the rankings. While Wawrinka was hoping for an all-Swiss Grand Final this weekend, Nadal had another plan. “Yeah, for sure it will have been amazing to play Roger in the final, to have an all-Swiss final. But watch the match. I’m happy to play Rafa, you know. He’s a really good friend. We practice a lot together. He’s amazing champion. So it’s going to be a great final for sure to play him.”
“Again, I’m playing my best tennis here; physically I’m ready. I had two days off, so that’s perfect for me before final. Going to try everything. Before to beat Djokovic was the same. I was losing 13, 14 times before that. Just the fact that I’m always trying and I always think that I can change all the statistic,that’s positive.” said Wawrinka in a press conference after his semi-final.
If Nadal manages to fulfil the bookmakers expectations and win his 14th Grand Slam title, he will equal American Pete Sampras on the list of all time Grand Slam champions. While he is still a few positions behind Roger Federer with 17 titles, I’m sure he has the record in his sights. If Wawrinka finds a way to win this match, it will be a huge upset. However, attractive odds are on offer for the Swiss, who has taken out some great players over the length of this tournament.
All major bookmakers have markets open for the Australian Open Men’s Final, with match bets, set betting, game handicap, and other products available throughout the day.
