A lot has been made of Wawrinka's victory over Raphael Nadal in that it was a total shock to anyone who is aware that tennis is a sport, and what focus hasn't centered on the sheer shock of his victory has orbited around the concept of nationalism and how Wawrinka became only the second player of Swiss nationality (joining Federer) to win a Grand Slam title. But these stories--the underdog's triumph and the saluting of flags--do not tell us everything about what Wawrinka just did and what it might mean for the sport moving forward.
Aside from a Wawrinka number one or a Swiss number two, another number that quickly comes to mind from Wawrinka's victory over Nadal is three, as in it looked like Wawrinka might win in three straight sets over the world's number one ranked player. However, the number that really blows my mind is how if Nadal had won, this year's Australian Open would have marked the seventeenth straight Grand Slam in which the winner's name was Roger Federer, Raphael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, or Andy Murray. Instead that number rests in peace at sixteen, and while the "Big Four" may put together a new streak, there is no way any new streak would span four years of dominance. Also, any new streak might not include Federer, who last won a Grand Slam in 2012 (I know, not that long ago, but still the epoch, with him at the helm, is surely well into its coda).
