Wawrinka will retire as a three-time Grand Slam champion, having won his first major at the 2014 Australian Open aged 28.
He had ended Djokovic’s run of 14 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals by winning the deciding set of their quarter-final 9-7, and then beat a hindered Rafael Nadal in the Melbourne final.
The Spaniard had hurt his back in the warm-up – but those who thought Wawrinka had got lucky and was unlikely to repeat the trick were soon reconsidering.
After his Paris triumph, the final part of the trilogy came in New York in 2016, when Wawrinka again beat Djokovic from a set down to win the US Open.
Just five minutes before the final, a tearful Wawrinka was shaking with nerves in the locker room, and he declared he was “completely empty” after the gruelling showpiece.
He played 27 sets across that fortnight and spent 21 hours and 49 minutes on court, including saving a match point against Britain’s Dan Evans in the third round.
He calmed his nerves, he said, by giving himself a blunt pep talk – a move typical of the man who inspired many GIFs with his trademark pointing of the finger towards his temple.
Some players spurn alcohol during their careers. Wawrinka was not one of those, and may well not have been the same player had he tried to suppress a natural inclination to enjoy the company of others from time to time.
“I think we are all different,” Wawrinka said, as he pointed out that Djokovic – who once denied himself even a square of chocolate for an 18-month period – is a 24-time Grand Slam champion and still playing at 39.
“When you sacrifice so much for your tennis, when you do so much hard work to get there, I think if you like to celebrate, you should celebrate, and that’s what I did after winning Slams.
“If you don’t celebrate after winning a Slam then you will never celebrate, because tennis never stops.”
