PARIS -- This was supposed to be the day Novak Djokovic joined the magnificent seven of men's tennis -- Federer, Nadal, Agassi, Laver, Emerson, Perry and Budge. The long-awaited occasion when the game's best player completed his career Grand Slam on the very court he has been tormented most.
But after winning three majors in 2011, Djokovic's performance in Grand Slam finals has left a curiously bitter aftertaste. While he has managed to reach 10 of 14 -- four more than any other man -- since 2011, he has converted only four (in four different years) and failed six times.
Djokovic typically gets off to great starts, as he did in winning the Australian Open, but finishing has been a monumental problem. He had lost five of those finals to Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, but this time it was, of all people, Stan Wawrinka.
On court for the third straight day, a weary-looking Djokovic played a passive-aggressive game -- featuring way too many drop shots -- that couldn't withstand the fearless Wawrinka's powerful groundstrokes.
And so, it is the No. 8-seeded Wawrinka that is the first-time French Open champion. A dozen years after he won the boys' title here, Wawrinka defeated the No. 1-ranked player 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in a rousing 3-hour, 12-minute match.
Afterward, speaking in French on Court Philippe Chatrier, Wawrinka said he played the match of his life. He might have undersold that one.
"The player who stays on the [base]line always make the other uncomfortable," Wawrinka said. "I know how to do. Trying to play more deep, more aggressive. Little by little, I start to be the player inside the court. That's the way I have to beat him. I'm surprised the way I played. I played amazing today. I'm really happy with the trophy tonight."
And to think that the 30-year-old Swiss champion had won exactly three of his 20 previous matches against Djokovic.
How money is Wawrinka, who will be ranked No. 4 among ATP World Tour players Monday? This was his second major final -- and his second victory. Overall, he's won his last six finals.
Wawrinka is only the second player to go out in the first round of the French Open the year before winning the title. And somehow he did it with those gaudy, gruesome red-and-white quasi-plaid shorts.
Proving the first was no accident, Wawrinka distances himself from one-Slam wonders like Thomas Johansson, Gaston Gaudio, Andy Roddick and Goran Ivanisevic.
Djokovic, who graciously congratulated Wawrinka, hugging him on two different occasions, saw his 28-match winning streak end. He is now 0-for-11 at Roland Garros, a trend he desperately wants to snap as so many recognize. When the crowd gave Djokovic a sustained ovation during the trophy ceremony, he repeatedly tried to blink back the tears.
"He was the better player in the second so he deserved to win that one, and the third and the fourth," Djokovic said afterward. "I mean, I probably could have played better in some moments, more aggressive. It wasn't easy conditions. Still he took his chances whenever they were presented.
"All I can do is to say, Well done. He deserves it."
Wawrinka and Djokovic, considering they occupy the highest echelon of men's tennis, are really good friends and practice together almost every week. "I know he's looking for that [first French Open] title," Wawrinka said of Djokovic. "He [deserves] one. I hope he gets it."
Despite the fact that their past four Grand Slam meetings have gone the five-set maximum, there were few who thought Wawrinka could truly hang with Djokovic in this match. Wawrinka might have been one of them. Not only did he battle Djokovic last year in the Australian Open semifinals, but he beat him 9-7 in the fifth on the way to his first major title. It was an important breakthrough for the Swiss player because it taught him he could play with the game's elite.
The ninth point of the match offered further evidence. Wawrinka won a titanic 39-stroke rally when Djokovic's backhand finally strayed long. It was a message that Wawrinka had no plans to check out early.
What Wawrinka did not count on was Djokovic's game plan to kill him softly with off-speed stuff. Djokovic neutralized Wawrinka's heavy forehand with loopy, topspin shots that bit into the red clay and hopped up out of his strike zone.
If you have to take one statistic from the match, this will do: Wawrinka had 60 winners, compared to 30 for Djokovic.
Djokovic declined to blame the outcome on his mentally taxing quarterfinal win over Nadal and the two-day semifinal match.
"I don't want to come up with excuse, saying these two matches took a lot out of me and I lost today," Djokovic said. "I don't think that's fair to Stan. I don't think that's fair to sit here and whine about now what has happened.
"Certainly those two matches were very big in terms of physical demand and mental, emotional, as well. But, still, I was today feeling pretty fresh as much as I could. Maybe in some important moments I didn't feel I had that explosivity in the legs, but, look, in the end of the day he was just a better player."
Wawrinka spent most of the match 3 or 4 feet behind the baseline (even against Djokovic's second serve), while Djokovic operated much closer to the baseline. As a consequence of that space, Djokovic sent drop shots scraping over the net early and often.
Wawrinka escorted the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds from the premises on the way to lifting the sterling coup de la mousquetaires. With a notable assist from Djokovic, Wawrinka is only the second French Open winner not named Nadal in the past 11 years.
Wawrinka now has an Olympic gold medal, a Davis Cup championship for Switzerland and, now, two Grand Slam singles titles -- things he never thought he'd achieve. He admitted that five minutes before the match, he sort of lost his mind pondering the enormity of the moment.
"What the f--- is happening," he asked his coach, Magnus Norman.
Eventually, Wawrinka settled down. Afterward, he was humble and endearing. When he sat down in the interview room, Wawrinka, smiling, draped his much-maligned shorts in front of him.
"It will be in the museum at Roland Garros," Wawrinka said. "You will see my shorts every day if you want. "I quite like [them]. Apparently, I'm the only one."