The Legendary Stan Wawrinka bids adieu to tennis
Swiss professional player and former World No. 3 Stanislas Wawrinka played his last Grand Slam tournament at the ongoing US Open. He intends to sign-off his career in October at his home tournament at the Swiss Indoors in Basel. Wawrinka was initially not expected to play at the US Open but he received a late wild card to compete in the final major event of the year. The 41-year-old Swiss lost in the first round to Italian opponent Matteo Berrettini in straight sets (7-6, 7-6, 6-0). His popularity could be seen from the generous support he received from the American crowd who kept cheering for him vociferously throughout the match.
Having played in the ‘Big Three’ era, Wawrinka achieved what most top players couldn’t manage during the time. He won three Grand Slams (Australian Open (2014), French Open (2015) and the US Open (2016) that too defeating the World No. 1 player of that time in all three Slam finals. In an era, where the trio of Federer-Nadal-Djokovic kept sweeping up grand slam trophies for fun every year, it was incredible what Wawrinka achieved between 2014 – 2016. Wawrinka also reached another French Open final in 2017 although he lost to Nadal in that one. He is also an Olympic gold medalist in Men’s Doubles alongside Roger Federer at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He won 16 ATP Tour level titles including one Masters 1000 title at the Monte-Carlo Masters 2014 defeating Roger Federer in the final.
Most of his career was spent in the shadows of his more talented and successful compatriot Roger Federer who won 20 Grand Slam titles and became one of the most popular athletes in the world of sport. However, Wawrinka never let it deter him and proved that he could not only compete but also win against the likes of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. It’s quite incredible that only three players born in the 1990’s have a Slam title with Dominic Thiem, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev having one each as the rest of the players couldn’t challenge the ‘Big Three’. These kinds of stats make his achievement of winning three Slam titles, defeating two of the big three in the final even more magnificent. He was particularly a nightmare for Novak Djokovic as he defeated him four times at the Slams. Wawrinka will forever be known for his intensity, passion, big booming serve and one of the best one-handed backhands in the game.
With Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner reigning in a new era of young talents and dominating Men’s tennis now, it’s time for the old guard to give way. With Nadal and Federer already retired and Djokovic in his twilight now, Wawrinka was still trying to play lower-level tournaments over the past few years to have match experience with the expectation of wild card entries to the major tournaments.
The passion, intensity or the love for the game may not have waned but after more than two decades of relentless tennis with multiple injury issues, there’s only so much a human body can endure. Tennis is also a physically brutal sport and it’s difficult to compete with an ageing body and hence as difficult as it may have felt, Wawrinka made that decision in December 2025. As mentioned on his social media account, 2026 was the ‘Final Push’, his last year on the ATP tour where he could play one last time at all the tournaments he had competed in so many times before.
When ‘Stan the Man’ finally hangs up his racquet in October 2026, tennis will definitely be poorer as he is not just a tennis legend but also a reminder of one of the few players who constantly challenged in the ‘Big Three’ era and enthralled everyone with his aggressive, passionate and intense brand of tennis. Along with talent and skill, he had a great amount of self-belief and the will to never give up. A winning mentality is what separates the great players from the good ones and he had that in abundance.
So long Stan Wawrinka, the world of tennis will always remember the fierce battles, the Grand Slam victories, an incredibly proud career over two decades but above all for being a fighter and a true champion.
