Stan Wawrinka’s tennis career came to an end with a 7-5, 7-6(2) loss to Jiri Lehecka in round one of the Swiss Indoors Basel on Tuesday night. It was yet another competitive performance against a much higher-ranked opponent for the 41-year-old, who succumbed after one hour and 51 minutes.
Wawrinka won only eight main-tour matches in 2026 but battled through a whole host of close matches as a big underdog — including a 6-7(7), 7-6(16), 7-6(7), 7-6(5) setback against Matteo Berrettini at Wimbledon. His last win came over Martin Landaluce (who had four match points against Alexander Zverev in Vienna on Tuesday) at last week’s event in Lyon.
“I have always dreamed of being able to finish feeling good, being competitive, and that’s what I was able to do,” Wawrinka said during his post-match press conference (translated from French). “This year has been amazing with a great amount of emotion, a lot of sadness at every tournament where you say goodbye. But it has been much more beautiful than I could have ever dreamed, than I could have imagined.
“I have received so much love. I have lived through so many emotions in my last year at 41, feeling competitive. I have played top players; I have played young players as, well. I have had very good matches. For me, it’s an ideal ending.”
Wawrinka was a three-time Grand Slam champion and reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world, largely playing alongside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. The Swiss’ slam titles came at three different locations — the Australian Open (2014), the French Open (2015), and the U.S. Open (2016). His last triumph came in front of the home crowd at the 2017 Geneva tournament.
It has been a fall swing full of retirements on the ATP Tour. Mikhail Kukushkin retired in Almaty and David Goffin called it a career in Brussels.
see you around, Stan
Awesome career. So many great moments. Knew how to raise his game at the business end.
I had a moment of silence when I saw the match end on the scoreboard.
All the best.
Really brought single handed backhand to another level altogether
One of my favourite players ever and will miss his matches. Will be good to see him continue to captain Switzerland’s Davis Cup team.
There was a nice passing of the baton moment when Jerome Kym had his first breakthrough Top 10 win a couple of days after Stan’s last professional match. Both of them at Basel, a home tournament.🤍❤️🇨🇭
Say hello to Smeagol for me.
Always wanted him to Wimbledon to complete the CGS sadly he never will, beautiful tennis, without injuries he might have won a few more GS, good luck Stan anyway 😀