Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka triggered a new order in tennis following his remarkable Australian Open championship run capped by his epic four-set victory over the world's No.1 tennis player Rafael Nadal in the finals this past weekend.

Wawrinka, who had been known for the past few seasons as a solid, but not Grand Slam caliber player, came through with the best performance of his career as he toppled the biggest names in the sport to bag his first major crown in the Land Down Under.

Aside from schooling Nadal, the Swiss tennis star also defeated former world's no.1 and four-time Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 in another pulsating five-set quarterfinal showdown. He then went on to blast Tomas Berdych, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 to arrange a final match with Nadal, who continued his mastery over Roger Federer by beating him in their semis match.

With his Australian Open victory, Wawrinka achieved a new career high in the ATP World Rankings, collecting massive points to become the new world's No.3, just behind Djokovic and Nadal.

But aside from his giant leap in the rankings, Wawrinka also realized that the Big Four's tight grip in men's tennis upper echelon is starting to slip, making it possible for up-and-coming guys such as Juan Martin Del Potro, Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Tomas Berdych to contend for a majors crown.

"For sure some players will now realise that it's possible to win a Grand Slam," Wawrinka told the Daily Mail Online. "All the other top 15 players, we were already thinking last year that although the big four guys are amazing players we had more chance to beat them. We didn't win a Slam but we were closer, we started realising it was possible to do something big."

"Before this week I always thought guys like (Jo Wilfried) Tsonga or (Tomas) Berdych were closer than me to winning a Major. Del Potro did it one year (2009) at the US Open and since then everyone has expected him to win another but it's not that simple," he added.

Many tennis analysts believed Wawrinka's victory at the Australian Open marked the beginning of a new era in men's singles tennis, where names like Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray are no longer as dominant as they were before.