The Murray-Wawrinka story goes far beyond that meeting. Their careers are intertwined, especially at Roland Garros, where they met in consecutive semi-finals, in 2016 and 2017. Even without playing each other, they influenced each other’s destiny: in 2015, Murray dragged Novak Djokovic into a five-set semi-final that had to be played into the second Saturday of the tournament. He ultimately lost, but may just have blunted the Serb’s edge before the final that Wawrinka won in four sets the following day.
That pair of semi-final meetings and Murray’s contribution to Wawrinka’s title also demonstrated a dynamic that has defined men’s tennis for the last two decades. The best-of-the-rest might beat each other, but they often had one of three final bosses waiting for them after their exertions.
In 2016, Murray was the semi-final victor, only to run out of steam against Djokovic in the final. It was Djokovic’s fourth major title in a row and completed his career Grand Slam, adding a first French Open to his Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles. The following year, Wawrinka beat Murray in five sets, but was powerless to stop a rampaging Rafael Nadal winning a 10th title.
In retrospect, Murray and Wawrinka’s victories felt pyrrhic given how much they took out of each player, and they play into a wider sense of futility: Even if you were good enough to get past a Murray or a Wawrinka, there was an even greater challenge waiting in the final.
That Murray and Wawrinka each won three Grand Slams — beating Djokovic or Nadal in five of their six successful finals — is a phenomenal achievement, despite the nagging feeling that in any other era, they would have won many more. Wawrinka was the much more clinical of the two, winning three of his four major finals, compared to Murray’s 3/11 record. But the Swiss also only won one Masters title, compared to Murray’s 14 (plus the ATP Finals) — fuelling the idea that he was the ultimate big-match player, only really showing up at the slams. Or at the Olympics, where he won a doubles gold with Roger Federer in Beijing in 2008. (Murray has two singles golds).
