Stan Wawrinka officially retired from professional tennis on Tuesday night, saying a tearful farewell on home soil at the Swiss Indoors Basel. Aged 41, Wawrinka did what nobody else could during the Big Four era – he won multiple Grand Slam titles.
The Swiss star beat Rafael Nadal to lift his first Major trophy at the 2014 Australian Open, and then stunned Novak Djokovic to win the 2015 French Open and 2016 US Open. But what is perhaps the most striking thing about Wawrinka’s career is the fact that he got to end it on his own terms.
A Career Marked by Comebacks
This is a man who turned 41 in March, who beat 20-year-old Martin Landaluce in a final-set tiebreak just last week. A man whose career was derailed by a knee injury in 2017, shortly after he lost his fourth Grand Slam final at Roland Garros. In the last nine years, he never did return to the pinnacle of tennis. He faced more injury setbacks and had two surgeries on his left foot in 2021.
After that, Wawrinka never reached the second week of a Major again. His best ranking after that foot injury layoff was No. 40 in 2023 – still far away from his career-high of No. 3. But that didn’t stop fans from enjoying the one-handed backhand that once blew Djokovic off the court in Paris.
What Wawrinka's Exit Means for Djokovic
That also didn’t stop Wawrinka from enjoying life on the tour – the training, the travelling, and all of the hard work that went into competing into his early 40s. And the twilight years of Wawrinka’s career serve as something of a lesson to those who question when Djokovic will retire.
Aged 39, it’s been three years since the Serbian superstar won his last Major title; his 24th, setting him apart in the Open Era. He’s suffered some concerning opening-round defeats this year and admitted to facing an undisclosed health problem. Some have suggested that Djokovic should have retired on a high when he won Olympic gold in 2024. After all, it was the one accolade that had evaded him.
A Testament to Going Out on His Own Terms
But look at Wawrinka. Had the three-time Major champion retired on a high – maybe when he was still a top-10 player in 2017, once the knee issue set him off course, maybe after he returned to the top 15 in 2020, only to be sidelined again by the foot – the tennis world would have missed out on an extra six to nine years of matches. Sure, Wawrinka didn’t win them all, but this farewell year has been a testament to what it means for a player to go out on their own terms.
Back in January, the Swiss star pushed top stars at the United Cup, and then won a five-set, four-hour and 33-minute thriller to reach the third round of the Australian Open. He ends his last season on the tour with an 8-19 win-loss record. The last win of his career came a week ago in Lyon, when Wawrinka outlasted rising star Landaluce in just under three hours.
Days later, Landaluce pushed soon-to-be-world No. 1 Alexander Zverev to a final-set tiebreak in Vienna, blowing four match points. Wawrinka remained competitive even in his last match, losing 7-5 7-6(2) to world No. 21 Jiri Lehecka. He and the rest of his team and family were tearful as he waved goodbye and walked off the court for the last time.
The most important thing was that he walked away on his own terms, competitive, enjoying himself, and retiring exactly when he had planned to, despite being 41 years old and with an almost decade-long history of injury setbacks. It’s something he said himself. “I’ve always dreamed of being able to finish on my terms, of being able to finish while feeling good, while being competitive. And that’s what I managed to do this year,” Wawrinka admitted. “For me, it is an ideal end. It is a dream end.”
So why deny Djokovic of that same finish? The current world No. 12 also wants to keep playing as long as he enjoys it and feels competitive. He’s even earmarked the 2028 LA Olympics as a tournament he wants to compete in. “Why would I talk about retirement when I still keep proving to myself that I can still win? As long as I have the drive, the passion, but most of all, as long as I feel like I can be one of the best players in the world, I want to keep going,” he said in his new Prime Video documentary, Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter.
Djokovic will be 41 years old during the next Olympics. Some think that’s too old. Wawrinka should serve as proof that he’s got the right idea.
