Top 5 moments of the 2014 Australian Open

Serena Williams

So the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, has finally culminated with maiden winners in both the men’s and women’s categories. One of the most anticipated tournaments on the tour, the Australian Open lived up to its expectations of glamour, drama and high octane tennis action. Once again, the scorching Melbourne summer gave the players a scare but they refused to wilt, giving us some jaw-dropping tennis over the fortnight.

Here are the top 5 talking points this year from Melbourne Park:

5. Serena Williams’s stunning exit

No woman in recent times has dominated the WTA tour more than this American star. But Serena’s erratic form has been her Achilles’ heel. She started her Australian Open campaign with straight set easy wins before bowing out in three sets to Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic. Perhaps the heat was too hot to handle for the American. The top seed’s shock exit from the Major opened the doors for the rise of new fringe players.

4. The ‘Djoker’ fails to get serious

The Australian Open has been a ‘Happy Slam’ for Novak Djokovic; he had won three titles in a row here up to last year. But this year things were different. Djokovic might have made a loud statement by appointing Boris Becker as his head coach but his performance on court wasn’t prolonged.

The ‘Djoker’ has entertained the crowds at the Rod Laver Arena with his exhilarating tennis and funny impersonations of fellow players; this year Nole didn’t even spare his own coach from the mimicry. But he failed to act upon Becker’s teachings as he found himself ending up as a losing quaterfinalist. Djokovic lost to the eventual winner Stanislas Wawrinka in an epic five set battle. Still, Wawrinka had to pull a rabbit of the hat to stop the unstoppable.

3. Rafa at his relentless best

No one in men’s tennis today can match the endurance and perseverance of Rafael Nadal, the astonishing man from Mallorca. This Australian Open was again an acid test for the injury-prone former champion. When the pictures of Nadal’s appalling blisters in his hand came out, his fans started praying hard for his good health.

Still, Rafa produced some scintillating tennis to reach the final before giving up to his injury and Wawrinka’s outstanding form. The thing which perhaps hurt Rafa the most were the boos from spectators over his repeated medical time-outs in the final. Perhaps the moment when the Spaniard had tears in eyes in the final was the moment that summed up the agonizing tournament for this relentless warrior.

2. Li Na is third time lucky

Li Na had already won the Australian crowd last year with her indomitable spirit, and this year, the 31-year-old Chinese was third time lucky in the final. Li finally succeeded in adding another Grand Slam to her trophy cabinet after the 2011 French Open, in her third appearance at the Melbourne finals. Seeded fourth at the Australian Open, Li has been one of the most consistent players on the WTA tour over the past one year. Having previously been a losing finalist to Kim Clijsters in 2011 and Victoria Azarenka in 2013, Li fended off a brave challenge from the dark-horse Dominika Cibulkova in the final to finally put her hands on the glittering trophy.

1. Stan is the Man

Stanislas Wawrinka created history becoming the first person seeded eighth or lower to win a Grand Slam since the French Open in 2004. Wawrinka played the best tennis of his life to win his first Major, and became the first person to defeat both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in a Major.

Wawrinka is one of those players who have blossomed in the fall of their career, and the credit for that also goes to his new coach Magnus Norman. For the most part of his career Wawrinka has been over-shadowed by his fellow Swiss compatriot Roger Federer and now Fedex fans are rejoicing his victory as one of their own .Now he seems to be relishing his own day in the sunshine .