Stan Wawrinka retired from professional tennis on 27 October 2026, losing his final match to Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 7-6(2) at the Swiss Indoors in Basel. The three-time Grand Slam champion was 41 and had announced a year earlier that 2026 would be his last season. One exhibition night remains, in Geneva on 19 December.
When Was Stan Wawrinka’s Last Professional Match?
His last match was a first-round defeat at the Swiss Indoors Basel, an ATP 500 event, on Tuesday 27 October 2026. Jiri Lehecka, the eighth seed, won 7-5, 7-6(2), breaking in the eleventh game of the first set and closing the second in a tie-break.
Basel was chosen deliberately. He had said in advance that the ATP 500 event in his own country would be his last tournament, and he told reporters there that he first played it in 2003.
The tournament held a farewell ceremony on centre court the night before, on Monday 26 October, with recorded messages from Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic and tributes from Wawrinka’s parents.
Why Did Stan Wawrinka Retire?
He chose the timing himself, announcing it on social media on 19 December 2025, more than ten months before his last match. “Every book needs an ending,” he wrote, adding that 2026 would be his last year on tour under the heading “One last push”.
He was 40 when he posted it and had not won a tour-level title since the Geneva Open in May 2017, the sixteenth and last of his career. He opened the farewell season at the United Cup in Perth on 2 January 2026 and played on until Basel, taking in a final Australian Open, a first-round exit at Roland-Garros in May, and a last swing through Lyon.
At his closing press conference in Basel he framed the decision as one that worked out. “I have always dreamed of being able to finish feeling good, being competitive, and that’s what I was able to do,” he said, calling the week “an ideal ending”.
What Injuries Did Wawrinka Play Through?
Knee and foot surgery, repeatedly, from 2017 onward — which is why a former world No. 3 spent his last seasons ranked outside the top 100. The sequence is documented:
- February 2007: He tore a tendon in his right knee practising for a Davis Cup tie and lost about three months.
- August 2017: Two procedures on his left knee ended his season after Wimbledon, one of them involving the replacement of part of a bone.
- 2018: His ranking fell to 263 during the comeback year, before he climbed back inside the top 20 and reached the 2019 Roland-Garros quarter-finals.
- March and June 2021: Two operations on his left foot, the first announced days after he played Doha, cost him most of the season.
- November 2023: He fractured a foot at Metz, and afterwards rebuilt ranking points on the second-tier Challenger circuit.
He was not alone in reaching the end of that road in 2026. Kei Nishikori retired in October 2026 after a 20-year career shaped by the same pattern of surgery and recovery.
What Did Stan Wawrinka Actually Win?
Three Grand Slam singles titles, 16 tour-level titles in all, and a 590-395 singles record across 24 years as a professional. He beat the era’s three dominant players in major finals or on the way to them, and he is one of only two men, with Andy Murray, to win more than one major during the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic years.
| Major | Year | Beat in the final |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | 2014 | Rafael Nadal |
| Roland-Garros | 2015 | Novak Djokovic |
| US Open | 2016 | Novak Djokovic |
He reached a fourth major final at Roland-Garros in 2017 and lost it to Nadal. His career-high ranking of No. 3 came on 27 January 2014, the week after the first of those titles.
The rest of the honours board: Olympic doubles gold with Federer at Beijing in 2008, the 2014 Davis Cup with Switzerland, and one ATP Masters 1000 title, Monte-Carlo in 2014, won against Federer. Asked in Basel which memory he would keep, he named the Davis Cup: “The Davis Cup has always made me dream.”
The farewell year produced one more record. At the 2026 Australian Open, aged 40, he became the oldest man since Ken Rosewall in 1978 to reach the third round of a Grand Slam.
Is Stan Wawrinka Still Going to Play? One Night Remains
He has no tour matches left, but he is due on court once more on 19 December 2026 at Palexpo in Geneva, for a farewell event titled One Last Backhand, announced in June 2026. Geneva is also where he won his final ATP title, nine years earlier.
The programme pairs him with the players he spent his career alongside: a one-set singles match against Gael Monfils, then a two-set doubles with Federer as his partner against Monfils and Murray.
As of 10 November 2026, that exhibition is the only scheduled appearance on his calendar. He has entered no 2027 tournaments and has announced no coaching or broadcasting role. Two retired American players, John Isner and Sam Querrey, suggested publicly during the season that he might reconsider and play into 2027, but Wawrinka has made no such announcement, and his retirement date is recorded as the Basel defeat.
Late-career returns to the tour are not unheard of — Serena Williams came back in June 2026 after four years away — but nothing from Wawrinka or his team points that way.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Grand Slam Titles Did Stan Wawrinka Win?
Three: the 2014 Australian Open, Roland-Garros in 2015 and the US Open in 2016. He reached one other major final, at Roland-Garros in 2017, and lost to Rafael Nadal.
How Old Is Stan Wawrinka?
He was born on 28 March 1985 in Lausanne, Switzerland, which made him 41 at his last match and 41 as of November 2026.
Who Beat Wawrinka in His Final Match?
Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 7-6(2), in the Basel first round on 27 October 2026. Lehecka was the eighth seed that week.
Will Roger Federer Play at Wawrinka’s Farewell Event?
Federer is listed among the participants for One Last Backhand on 19 December 2026 in Geneva, where he is scheduled to partner Wawrinka in doubles against Gael Monfils and Andy Murray.
Has Wawrinka Ruled Out Playing in 2027?
He has not entered any 2027 events and treats Basel as the end of his career. No comeback has been announced; the speculation about one came from other players, not from him.
