Try Again,Fail again. Fail better - Stan Wawrinka , The New Iron Man of Tennis

~ Nobody had defeated a World no. 1 and 2 since Sergi Brugera since 1993.

~ Nobody had ever defeated Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam before.

~ Rarely, anyone has stepped up to win their first GS at the age of 28 in the presence of such  stellar opponents..

So what if you have just lost an epic match in just over five hours just 12 months back?

So what nobody predicted you to ever win a GS in the shadows of one of the greatest players in the history of tennis.

So what, you were ranked World No.8 and the Big 4 in tennis has won 34 out of the last 35 tournaments.

So what nobody in their dreams every predicted that you have the talent and ability to win a GS.

But then have you ever heard:

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.

If you haven't, then you should seriously look at a man named Stan Wawrinka who has a tattoo on his hand which says Fail Better.

Stan Wawrinka is the player who has defied everyone today to win his first grandslam at the age of 28, defeating Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for the first time in the same Grand Slam.

Stan Wawrinka is the man who stepped out of the shadows of his fellow Swiss player Roger Federer, winner of 17 GS to finally define his own glory moment by winning Australian Open for the first time.

Stan Wawrinka is the man who just 12 months back had cried his heart out after losing an epic battle against Novak Djokovic in a match which Stan should have won.

Stan Wawrinka is the man who had lost to Rafael Nadal 12 straight times before finally emerging as winner in the 13th time.

In the entire Australian Open, if there is any player who deserved to win today was Stan Wawarinka. He is the iron man who will now move on to World No. 3 ranking for the first time in his life and what a well-deserved ranking it is for him.

To have defeated the best two players and not to mention who in the history are already booked down amongst the greatest, is a feat which is worthy of unlimited praises.

Take a bow to a player who has suffered so much of pain, losses and lived in the shadow of his peers. He has achieved what anyone before the start of the tournament had thought impossible.

But then they say that

"Disappointment should always be taken as a stimulant, and never viewed as a discouragement."

 It is something to look upon to and learn from it to become the best in your field. And the opponent that Stan played against today, Rafael Nadal is the best example of the above quote. Inspite of an injury after first set and three games, he continued to play the match when he could have easily hung up his racquet. Not to mention, Nadal is the same player who was defeated 7 straight times by Novak Djokovic in 2011/2012 before he turned the tables around to win the next six matches out of nine they have played together till now.

But today it is not about Rafa, it is about a player who played his heart out to defy everyone and conquered the Mount Everest in his life.

How many of us would have actually gone and done what Stan has done today? We can look in life and see that there are handful of examples only of mental caliber of Stan Wawarinka who has shown such steely resolve in the times of adversity. If something we have to take out of today's match, it will be just one lesson:

Failures should never make you fall down because success comes from experience and experiences come from bad experiences. So whatever the difficulties that you are facing in life, get up and tell yourself in STAN THE MAN style:

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.

Also: Rafael Nadal's Injury Timeouts-Strategy or Real?

Roger Federer and The Much Hyped Age Factor

Rafael Nadal - The Warrior at Heart

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Rafael Nadal's Injury Timeouts-Strategy or Real?

Rafael Nadal took a contentious time out today for back injury at Australian Open Finals against Stan Wawarinka, only to be booed by the crowd as soon as he entered the arena. Was it a time delaying tactic or a genuine time out?

There has been a lot of talk going on about Rafael Nadal’s contentious time delaying tactics that are being employed by him during the matches to ruffle his opponents
.

Let’s look back at a few timeouts taken by Nadal during important matches:

1)   Finals at Monte-Carlo, 2008- Federer was leading 5-2 in the first set and Nadal calls for a timeout. When treatment was over, Nadal played brilliantly to defeat Federer. (This is of importance as Fed then lost French Open and then Wimbledon in the epic match to Nadal)

2)   Finals at Hamburg, 2008: A time break, which lasted for 6 minutes, was called by Nadal for thigh massage, just before Federer was going to serve for the set.  Obvious result: Federer lost his own serve and eventually the match.

3)   Wimbledon 2008: It is well known to the world about the time taken by Nadal/Djokovic between serves. In the epic final Nadal, on an average, took around 30 seconds (maximum went to around 50 seconds) between his serves against Federer who took on an average 20 seconds.(Rule was for 25 seconds)

4)   Wimbledon 2010: Against Philipp Petzschner, he called his trainer numerous times on the court. Nadal won, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3. Petzschner said he did not notice a difference in Nadal’s movements before and after the timeouts.

5)   Wimbledon 2011: Nadal calls for a timeout at 6-6 in the first set and goes on to win the match against Del Potro.

After the match today, it was told that he felt back problems during the warm up before the match. Was this statement a strategy to calm the outside world down or was it actually an injury; only Nadal can tell. But one thing is for sure, we cannot undermine the determination of this player. Nadal's sportsmanship can be a question but his records are unbelievable and will go down as one of the greatest in tennis history.

What  do you think? 

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(Link to previous post - Try Again,Fail again. Fail better - Stan Wawarinka , The New Iron Man in Tennis)

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