Djokovic: Most Underrated Champion

By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, April 24, 2025
Photo credit: Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters Facebook

Grand Slam king Novak Djokovic has beaten iconic champions on the game’s greatest stages.

The Serbian superstar cites a Grand Slam champion who has upstaged stars as arguably the most underrated player of his generation: Stan Wawinka.

Speaking to the media at his Mutua Madrid Open presser today, Djokovic was asked to reflect on the 10th anniversary of Wawrinka’s famous four-set upset of the world No. 1 in the 2015 Roland Garros final.

Djokovic praised his sometime practice partner as “an incredible player” who is “very underestimated in the discussions.”

“[Stan is] an incredible player, someone I really admire as a person as well. I think he’s very underestimated in the discussions,” Djokovic told the media in Madrid today. “He’s won [doubles] gold medal Olympics, he’s won three Grand Slams, and, yeah, just an amazing career.

“He’s 40 years old, with God knows how many surgeries on the knees and everything, and he’s still pushing, still coming in, still coming in early in the tournament. Showing up, one of the first people that shows up in the club, and practices early, and does everything that he needs to do, even more. So that’s super impressive.”

While tennis fans—and many fellow players—cite Stan the Man’s brilliant one-handed backhand as his greatest weapon. Djokovic says the sturdy Swiss’ resilience in coming back from multiple surgeries—and his pure passion for play—are two of his greatest qualities.

“I really admire him and Andy [Murray] as well for that, you know, going to the Challenger level, trying to build your rankings, trying to get matches,” Djokovic said. “You know, I never, I mean, I’ve never done that, never was in that position that I have to, hopefully don’t need to, build rankings again back to go to Challenger level.

“But I really admire that. That says a lot about champion spirit and mentality that these guys have.”

Looking back on that 2015 French Open final, Djokovic said initially he was pleased he didn’t have to face King of Clay Rafa Nadal in the final—until Wawrinka began blasting winners all over the court.

Exuding calm defiance and destructive power, Wawrinka rode a wave of shotmaking brilliance stunning the top seed 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to collect his first Roland Garros championship and deny Djokovic the career Grand Slam back in 2015.

In retrospect, Djokovic joked Wawrinka “stole” that Roland Garros final while wearing the funkiest shorts in major Open Era final history—a fact the Serbian says they still talk about to this day.

“That was, you know, one of the toughest losses for me because by that time I still haven’t won Roland Garros, and that was, I don’t know which final for me already,” Djokovic said today. “And I thought, I’m not playing Rafa for a change in the finals, and I, you know, I liked my chances to win my first French Open title.

“But then Stan stole it from me, and he played some incredible tennis. We still joke around telling that the reason why he played so well is because of the shorts. I don’t know how many of you remember that famous shorts that he was wearing, and he came up with the post-finals press conference with that shorts and I really hated him since then (smiling). But, no, we’re good buddies, of course I joke.”

Overall, Djokovic has had the last laugh in the rivalry, winning 21 of their 26 meetings, however a year after that Roland Garros stunner Wawrinka shocked Djokovic again in a four-set 2016 US Open final. That triumph earned Wawrinka his “Stan the Man” moniker from New York City newspapers.

In a physically-demanding duel, Wawrinka dethroned Djokovic, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3, to capture his first US Open championship in a riveting three hours, 55 minutes.

“There is no secret. If you want to beat the No. 1 player in the world, you have to give everything,” Wawrinka, who collected the champion’s check of $3.5 million, said afterward. “As I said the other day, you have to accept to suffer and you have almost to enjoy to suffer. Because I think this Grand Slam was the most painful, physically and mentally, Grand Slam that I ever played.”

Before a vocal crowd of 25,051 fans, the 31-year-old Swiss became the oldest US Open champion since a 35-year-old Ken Rosewall captured the 1970 US Open championship.

Wawrinka said he was so nervous before that US Open final he was shaking and crying in the locker room minutes before walking out onto Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“Today, before the final, I was really nervous like never before. I was shaking in the locker,” Wawrinka said. “When we start five minutes before the match talking, last few things with (coach) Magnus (Norman), I start to cry. I was completely shaking. But the only thing I was convinced with myself that my game was there.

“Physically I was there. My game was there. Put the fight on the court and you will have a chance to win. And that’s what happen after few games when I start to believe in myself, start to be in the match. I was only focus on the match, not what can happen if I win the match.

“Is it the final of the U.S.? No, I’m just focused what I’m doing in the court.”

Asked how he was able to compose himself and play such a strong match after a tearful breakdown, Wawrinka offered a simple answer.

“I had to put my shit together,” a smiling Wawrinka replied, evoking laughter from the media in his post-match press conference. “Sorry. That’s how I say it.”