It ended with a 20-shot rally, a pinpoint backhand winner, and a ripped shirt from Djokovic, who performed his patented Incredible Hulk impression as he bared his chest and roared at his supporters.

In a men’s locker room with well-established hierarchies, Wawrinka – who is 28 – was the strongest mover of 2013, climbing from No17 to No8 and reaching the first grand slam semi-final of his career in New York four months ago. There, again, Djokovic halted his run in another juddering five-set encounter. Which bodes well for those with tickets to Tuesday’s night session in Melbourne.

“Those kind of matches can define you as a character,” Lawrence Frankopan, Wawrinka’s manager, said yesterday. “Do you live off the fact that ‘I had a chance against Novak on the centre court at the Australian Open’? Or do you turn it around in a positive way, which I think Stan did. The level of tennis was second to none.

“After that match, we felt it would break him or make him. The first set that he played that night, very few people in the world have challenged Novak like that. Stan certainly watched it back again quite a few times throughout the year. He really took the initiative over the rest of the season and he seems to be maturing like a fine wine.”