Stan Wawrinka's professional tennis career is over. The 41-year-old Swiss lost 5-7, 6-7(2) to Jiri Lehecka in the first round of the Swiss Indoors in Basel on 27 October 2026, the final match of a 24-year career, according to VnExpress. The goodbye was planned: Wawrinka had announced his farewell before the 2026 season began.
Lehecka, a Czech ranked 21st in the world, faced a crowd firmly behind the home favourite, with every point Wawrinka won drawing loud support. The veteran was broken in the 11th game of the opening set and lost the second-set tie-break 2-7. He then walked a lap of the court to thank the fans before leaving it for the last time as a professional.
Speaking after the match, Wawrinka said he had always tried to give everything and to play at 100 percent in every match, out of respect for himself, his opponents, the tournaments and the fans. That, he said, had mattered most to him for more than 20 years, and it was the only way to leave the sport without regrets.
A career in milestones
Wawrinka won 16 ATP titles, three of them Grand Slams, and he beat the reigning world No. 1 in each of those finals: Rafael Nadal at the 2014 Australian Open, then Novak Djokovic at the 2015 French Open and the 2016 US Open. In the era dominated by Roger Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, he and Andy Murray were among the few players to win more than one major.
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2008 | Olympic men's doubles gold in Beijing with Roger Federer |
| 2014 | Australian Open title, career-high world No. 3, part of Switzerland's first Davis Cup triumph |
| 2015 | French Open title |
| 2016 | US Open title |
| 2025-2026 | 12 tour-level wins after turning 40 |
| 27/10/2026 | Final professional match, a loss to Lehecka in Basel |
He finished with 590 ATP Tour-level wins. His 12 wins across 2025 and 2026 are the most by any player aged 40 or older since the ATP Tour was founded in 1990.
The ATP has described him as one of the rare professionals to combine pure elegance with overwhelming power, and VnExpress singled out his one-handed backhand, a shot the modern game seems to be forgetting, as his trademark: graceful, textbook and one of the heaviest on the tour.
What comes next
Basel closed his professional career, but fans will get one more chance to see him on court. Wawrinka plans a farewell event called One Last Backhand in Geneva on 19 December 2026, with Roger Federer, his 2008 Olympic doubles partner, and Andy Murray expected to take part.