How many slams did Wawrinka deny Novak?

[Nadal - GOAT]

FO 15 and USO 16 are the obvious 2.
AO 14 and USO 19 are the debatable ones.

I think AO 14 would have been a cake walk for Novak had he gone past Stan. Berdych was unlikely to challenge him and Nadal was injured in the finals.
USO 19 is more tricky as he would have to face Medvedev if he had beaten Stan. Also Nadal was in decent form in USO F.

As Stan's career seems to draw to a close, massive respect to him to step up and deny Novak a few slams despite being the underdog. Stan has beaten Novak only 6 times in 25 meetings and 4 of them have been in slams. I believe he has played a significant role in the slam race.

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

Three obviously. Nadal was legitimately injured in the final of AO '14, so no chance for him. Djokovic was legitimately injured at USO '19, so no chance for him.

 

[Krish872007]

In that 6 year stretch from beginning of 2014 until end 2019, Wawrinka won 4 of their 5 Slam meetings.
He really was "that guy" against Djokovic, no wonder he gets so much praise for it.

 

[Nadal - GOAT]

In that 6 year stretch from beginning of 2014 until end 2019, Wawrinka won 4 of their 5 Slam meetings.
He really was "that guy" against Djokovic, no wonder he gets so much praise for it.

The 3 wins between 2014-16 wins were so significant and the fact that they happened vs Prime Novak makes them all the more special.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Wolverinka

 

[junior74]

Three obviously. Nadal was legitimately injured in the final of AO '14, so no chance for him. Djokovic was legitimately injured at USO '19, so no chance for him.

Nadal has never been fully healthy. Yet won 21 slems. Ombeleebel.

Stan is epic.

 

[Nadal - GOAT]

Three obviously. Nadal was legitimately injured in the final of AO '14, so no chance for him. Djokovic was legitimately injured at USO '19, so no chance for him.

Am not very sure about that. He could have been fatigued though. He seemed to be playing pretty well and in fact was a break up in the 2nd set. He only quit after he was 2 sets down and had fallen behind in the 3rd. It probably seemed too tall a task from that point.

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

Am not very sure about that. He could have been fatigued though. He seemed to be playing pretty well and in fact was a break up in the 2nd set. He only quit after he was 2 sets down and had fallen behind in the 3rd. It probably seemed too tall a task from that point.

Silly to hear that from a Nadal fan. You do not have a problem with injured Nadal winning a set vs Stan at AO '14, but Djokovic merely being up a break in the USO '19 match makes his condition questionable. Of course he didn't have to retire, that was partially out of spite to the crowd; could have played it out to the end. Still the difficulties in moving and hitting associated with an intermittent injury/inflammation were obvious.

 

[Nadal - GOAT]

Silly to hear that from a Nadal fan. You do not have a problem with injured Nadal winning a set vs Stan at AO '14, but Djokovic merely being up a break in the USO '19 match makes his condition questionable. Of course he didn't have to retire, that was partially out of spite to the crowd; could have played it out to the end. Still the difficulties in moving and hitting associated with an intermittent injury/inflammation were obvious.

Well, Nadal wasn't playing well through out the Final in AO 14. Yes he managed to scrape a set but there were lot of issues in his play. Anyway the point here is that Nadal's game in the finals stood no chance against Novak had he made it.

Regarding Novak in USO 19, I am not saying he faked an injury. In fact Novak has rarely retired mid-match from injury and always fights till the end. Like you said he retired partially out of spite to the crowd. Its just that Novak's injury didn't look very big to me and it seemed whatever it was he could overcome it by the next round. (If he had beaten Stan)

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

Well, Nadal wasn't playing well through out the Final in AO 14. Yes he managed to scrape a set but there were lot of issues in his play. Anyway the point here is that Nadal's game in the finals stood no chance against Novak had he made it.

Regarding Novak in USO 19, I am not saying he faked an injury. In fact Novak has rarely retired mid-match from injury and always fights till the end. Like you said he retired partially out of spite to the crowd. Its just that Novak's injury didn't look very big to me and it seemed whatever it was he could overcome it by the next round. (If he had beaten Stan)

Djokovic had been struggling with his serve and to a lesser extent strokes since the first round - he won three matches in straights due to facing journeymen. If it didn't subside while he had easy early rounds, it wasn't going away in later rounds then...