An epic third serve of "The plot line is one of Wawrinka making ground on Djokovic".
In 2005, 17-year-old prodigy Novak Djokovic played a 19-year-old Swiss kid called Stan Wawrinka in the second round of qualifying for the Australian Open.
Djokovic duly prevailed 6-2, 6-3 and went on to qualify for a berth in his first grand slam event – the tournament he would win just three years later, also his first major title.
Wawrinka was the first on the Djoker's freeway of road-kill at Melbourne Park, and was a slow burner compared with the precocious Djokovic. A decade later, the pair will meet in the semi-finals here for the first time, in a match that – should it follow the pattern of their close encounters of 2013 and 2014 – has epic possibilities.
"It's going to be a monster of a match," said Pat Cash, Australia's 1987 Wimbledon champion.
Last year, Wawrinka bested Djokovic 9-7 in the fifth set, and went on to take down a wounded Rafael Nadal in the final. His achievement – tantamount to flooring Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier consecutively – was a freakish performance, but no accident of history. Wawrinka had extended Djokovic to 10-8 in the fifth set in the fourth round of the 2013 Australian Open.
Both matches were classics, and the 2013 one would have received more critical acclaim had Wawrinka then been entrenched in the top 10 – as he subsequently would be. Brad Gilbert, the garrulous coaching guru and ESPN commentator, remembered Djokovic beating Wawrinka when they were kids in the qualies – "the first time I'd noticed the Djoker".
Wawrinka's success against Djokovic is comparative – few players have fared well head to head – and is really confined to Melbourne.
The Djoker had won 16 straight against Wawrinka until the Stanimal prevailed here in the quarter-finals last year, although the Swiss man's unusually late maturation – now ranked No.4 aged 29 – renders the early results irrelevant.
The pair met here first in qualifying, then in 2013 in the fourth round, last year in the quarters, this year in the semis – so the plot line is one of Wawrinka, the older man, making ground on Djokovic, the game's standard-bearer.
"Stan matches up very well against him," said Cash, adding that Wawrinka had the power "to match Novak at the back of the court" and on serve. "He has the extra firepower – everywhere." Cash subscribes to the view that if Wawrinka suffered in the Swiss shadows of the great Roger Federer, he also benefited from the time spent in Federer's company. "You get to practise with Roger."
Wawrinka was not imposing in his first four matches, but observers say he ramped up his game for the straight-sets eclipse of Kei Nishikori – increasing the velocity of his serve considerably. His tournament, to date, is his career writ small: initially ignored or barely noticed, he is surging at the end.
To the question of whether he was performing as well as last year, Wawrinka replied: "No, I think I play better ... I'm more aggressive. I'm more confident with my game when I come to the net."
Yet for all Wawrinka's weaponry and comfort on the Melbourne blue rubber, he is still an underdog against the world No.1, who Gilbert compared to "the taxman – he's just collecting".
While Djokovic's defensive game is unmatched, Gilbert identified an offensive strength that received little acclaim: the second serve. "I think the most underrated part of Novak's game is his second serve."
What will be worth seeing is the third serve – the third instalment – of Djokovic v Wawrinka at the venue where both have had their most prolonged success.
