4-Time Champ, 3-Time Defending Champ Goes Down

Melbourne's own White Knight Novak Djokovic went down on Tuesday, but not without a fight.

Let's set the stage first. Going into this match Novak Djokovic had an abundance of impressive streaks that he intended to keep up all the way through the Australian Open and to his fifth Australian Open title. 28 straight wins, 25 straight wins at the Australian Open, 14 straight wins over his opponent Stanislas Wawrinka, 13 straight victories over the ATP Top 10, 14 straight major semifinals, and 3 straight Australian Open titles all hindered on the 2013 semifinal rematch between Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka.

Yes, on paper in the past Novak Djokovic owns Stan Wawrinka. He's won 14 straight times over the Swiss man, and has a 3-0 record in majors against him as well. But those numbers are misleading and don't tell the whole story.

Last year in Melbourne we all remember the epic 5-hour marathon 5-set match in which Stan Wawrinka played out of his mind challenging Novak Djokovic and stunning the crowd. Novak eventually took that match 12-10. And the semifinal match at the US Open last year, where again Stan tested Novak through another five thrilling sets before Novak eventually ousted Stan. We knew Stan could hang with Novak going into this match and given their track record the past year we knew we were in for another good one.

To try and sum up this match would be futile. It was filled with so many twists, so many great moments, that to try and recant the entire match would not do it any justice. Here are some highlights of the match. I, in no way, condone using this as a replacement for the actual match. If you have time, watch the match in its entirety, but for time sake here you go:

Djokovic-Wawrinka 2014 QF-Part 1
Djokovic-Wawrinka 2014 QF-Part 2

In a simple scoreline Wawrinka won 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 defeating the 3-time defending champ and sending him packing. Wawrinka looked different this time around. He seemed to believe a lot more. He knew he could win. On Stan's left forearm he tattooed a verse from Samuel Beckett, it reads “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail Better.” summing up Stan's struggles and eventual triumph in a near perfect quote. Stan will have a chance to reach his first major final when he plays Tomas Berdych on Thursday in the Aussie semifinal. As for Djokovic, he'll get back to grind, preparing himself for his next 28 match win streak.