A few thoughts on this year's mens Australian Open final

I don't usually comment on the final once my favourite Swiss is out of a tournament, but I feel compelled to say a few things this time around.  The final result was what I wanted, but certainly not what I or anyone else expected.

Stan Wawrinka came out firing on all cylinders in the first set giving Nadal very little room to breathe, much less come up with a solution for the onslaught of amazing backhands.

Then of course mid-second set Nadal started experiencing lower back issues, forcing him to take a medical time-out hindering his movement thereafter.

He came back out on court having lost the first set and being down a break to a chorus of boos from the Aussie Open crowd.

Stan became quite agitated with the chair empire demanding to know why Nadal needed such a long break, but kept his cool played aggressively and won the set anyway.

In the third set the pain killers started to work for Nadal, Stan got understandably nervous and felt the pressure of the moment thus losing the 3rd to Nadal.

The injury time-out as always caused a bit of an uproar, many fans often accuse Nadal of faking an injury when things aren't going his way, (and I'm sure as a Federer fan I've accused the man of the same a time or two).

But that clearly was not the case here (the evidence was clear in the drop of mph's on his serve).  Nadal was  not looking like himself.

I rarely give Nadal enough credit but I must commend him for continuing to fight instead of retiring (obviously it would have looked bad this being a final and all) but it's not like it hasn't happened before (Mauresmo vs Henin 2006 Aussie final springs to mind).

So I thought it was really classy of Nadal to fight through the pain and still provide Stan with an opponent on the other end.

As a tennis fan I also really appreciate the huge respect these 2 and the rest of the top guys have for one another.

Something that was clearly evident in their acceptance speeches.  Both just made me love the current generation of open era players that much more.

I did feel a bit sorry for Stan who had some of his thunder stolen due to this incident (resulting in a subdued victory celebration) but despite all that Stan kept his nerve and persevered to win the title.

After the heart breaking loss last year in the semis to Djokovic, he finally showed (and perhaps even believed) he too could be a part of the world elite.

Although no player ever wants to win at the hindrance of another (something he himself mentioned in the post-match interview) ;  full credit must be given to Stan who could have crumbled under pressure and imploded several times after that 3rd set.

With emotions running high and this being his first Grand Slam final it still could have gone either way (as history of the sport has shown us many times before).

And the fact that Rafa is known to fight and did fight until the very last point.

Yes Nadal may have been injured, but I still applaud  Mr. Wawrinka for finally breaking through to the top.

I have been sporadically following Stan's career over the years, but I think this tournament has turned me into a full fledged fan.

Congratulations Stan the man you've achieved the impossible and ventured out of the (Federer) shadow into the warm glow of your own patch of sun.

Emphatically earning the right for people to think of you as someone other then 'the other Swiss'.