Stan The Man

Stan Wawrinka produced a thrilling display of attacking tennis to deny Djokovic the full set of Slam titles. Stan’s single-handed backhand is rated by many as the best in the game, but what was so impressive was his ability to come with up the goods under the most intense pressure. It was a welcome victory for those fans, your blogger included, who prefer ‘first strike’ attacking tennis to the counter-punching style of Djokovic.

Wawrinka has finally found the key to going deep in Majors late in his career. On the ITV commentary Courier mentioned a great stat illustrating this. In 34 attempts he had never made a Slam semi, but has now done it four times in the past seven Majors. Much credit must go to his coach Magnus Norman. As noted in a previous blog, Stan aways had the ability, now he has the mental strength, and conditioning, to back it up.

No less impressive was the 20th slam for Serena. Even when she’s suffering with the flu, Williams still had an extra gear when faced with adversity, coming from a set down four times en route to the title. She will surely surpass Steffi Graf’s haul of 22 majors.

After a nine year drought, Arsenal have two trophies in two years. They repeated their FA Cup victory and look like genuine title contenders. League success may depend on Wenger ending the hex Mourinho has over him. Jose’s team were accused of grinding out boring wins towards the end of the season, but still ended up 2^nd highest scorers.

Brief mentions for:

 Stuart Bingham, like Wawrinka, has found success late in his career

James Anderson, record English wicket-taker

Floyd Mayweather, no stranger to success & still peerless.

Bournemouth, deserved second division champions, scoring 98 goals, with Eddie Howe a candidate for manager of the season