Australian Open 2017 draw analysis: Djokovic and Murray on yet another collision course

Stan Wawrinka

The talented Swiss, a mainstay of the top tennis ranks, has had patchy, erratic form on occasion – but proven himself time and again, winning Slam titles on every surface except Wimbledon. Last year, Wawrinka played exceptional tennis at Flushing Meadows to defeat Juan Martin del Potro and then go on to take a spectacular win against Novak Djokovic, all the while displaying no dip in stamina, to win the 2016 US Open.

It is that fitness and endurance that has stood Wawrinka, now a three-time Grand Slam champion, in good stead, and is something he can take confidence from.

Wawrinka will start off against Martin Klizan (who has had a stutter in form recently) and the big-serving American Steve Johnson, followed by Viktor Troicki, whom he has never lost to before, but it is the pre-quarter-finals that could truly trouble him. There, he will meet tennis bete-noire and perhaps his own nemesis, the mercurial Nick Kyrgios.

The young Australian is considered by many players – among them John McEnroe, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – as immensely talented, but struggling with psychological issues that have held him back in terms of career success. Indeed, the perhaps prodigiously talented Kyrgios, who, despite the absence of a full-time coach last year won his first ATP Tour level title in Japan, has detracted from his own career achievements with a streak of unsportsmanlike behaviour that has seemed to become his trademark.

Kyrgios beat Wawrinka at the pair’s most recent meeting – at the clay court Madrid Masters last year, in straight sets, although each of those sets went to tiebreak. The pair’s record, however, is dead even at two wins apiece in their four match rivalry, which, given Kyrgios’ behaviour at the Montreal Masters in 2015, has become heightened in light of the Australian’s language.

Should he be able to beat Kyrgios, Wawrinka will see a projected semi-final against World No. 1 Andy Murray, another potentially interesting contest. Murray leads the pair’s head-to-head record at 10-7, but Wawrinka has successfully been a thorn in the Scot’s side on multiple occasions, taking matches to tiebreaks and fights.