Stan Wawrinka ended his career against Jiri Lehecka in Basel on October 27, leaving three major titles, Olympic gold and a decisive role in Switzerland’s first Davis Cup triumph.
Stan Wawrinka has brought his professional tennis career to a close, leaving behind three Grand Slam singles titles and a reputation for producing his boldest tennis on the largest stages. His final match came on Tuesday, October 27, when Jiri Lehecka beat him 7–5, 7–6(2) at the Swiss Indoors in Basel. The tournament’s official account confirmed that the home appearance was the last of his career.
Tributes continued on Wednesday, with the US Open’s retrospective recording the 41-year-old’s reflections on finishing while he still felt competitive. That distinction shaped the farewell. Basel was an actual match against a seeded opponent, with points and sets to contest, and a final opportunity for supporters to watch a player whose results had repeatedly interrupted the established order at the top of the sport.
A close match before the goodbye
Swiss Indoors described a standing reception from 9,200 spectators at St. Jakobshalle and repeated encouragement as Wawrinka tried to extend the contest. The second set reached a tiebreak before Lehecka completed the victory. The organisers counted 19 Basel appearances and 985 tour matches at the end of Wawrinka’s career. Those figures give the farewell a scale beyond one evening: a familiar local presence was leaving after decades of returning.
The score also matters. A retirement tribute can make the competition appear incidental, but Lehecka still had to finish two closely contested sets. Wawrinka’s departure was therefore both ceremonial and sporting. The crowd could celebrate everything that had come before while the player remained occupied with the immediate problem of winning the next point, the same demand that had structured his working life.
Three majors, three statements of authority
The first major breakthrough came in Melbourne in 2014. The Australian Open’s account of his career recalls a five-set quarterfinal victory over Novak Djokovic and a semifinal win against Tomas Berdych before the final against Rafael Nadal. The tournament’s official honour roll records the championship score as 6–3, 6–2, 3–6, 6–3. The route to the title demonstrated that his achievement involved more than one exceptional afternoon.
Paris supplied another defining performance the following year. Roland-Garros’ retrospective of the 2015 final records 60 winners in Wawrinka’s four-set victory over Djokovic. He had lost the opening set, then won 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4. The tournament’s account places that result within a remarkable Djokovic season: it was his only defeat at a major that year. Wawrinka’s attacking tennis had changed the outcome of one of the era’s dominant campaigns.
A third title followed at the 2016 US Open. The USTA’s anniversary account recalls his 6–7(1), 6–4, 7–5, 6–3 final win over Djokovic and 46 winners. Again, losing the first set did not determine the match. Taken together, those finals show why a career cannot be understood only through weekly ranking positions. Wawrinka repeatedly found the level required to defeat an outstanding opponent when a major trophy was at stake.
The sequence also gives those victories their historical weight. They arrived in three successive seasons, against Nadal and then Djokovic twice. Wawrinka had to repeat the achievement under different circumstances rather than rely on one breakthrough. Each title supplied fresh evidence that his game could withstand the demands of a championship final.
Switzerland’s victories were shared achievements
His international record also includes success with Roger Federer. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics they won the men’s doubles gold medal, defeating Sweden’s Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson in four sets. Olympedia’s match record gives the final score as 6–3, 6–4, 6–7(4), 6–3. It is a reminder that a player known for the force of his individual groundstrokes could also contribute to the coordination and judgement demanded by doubles.
The 2014 Davis Cup triumph gave Switzerland another shared landmark. The competition’s official report records a 3–1 victory over France in Lille. Wawrinka won the opening singles against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, then partnered Federer to defeat Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau in doubles. Federer secured the decisive point against Gasquet. Wawrinka’s contributions therefore came at two stages that helped put the team in position to win its first title.
Those results belong beside the singles trophies when assessing his career. Team competition changes the meaning of a point: its consequence extends to a partner, a captain and a national side. Wawrinka’s record contains both forms of responsibility. He could carry his own ambitions through a major fortnight and help deliver a result that depended on several players performing across an entire tie.
The final season had its own measure of success
The US Open’s October 28 tribute credits Wawrinka with 16 tour-level singles titles and 590 wins, the last coming in Lyon earlier this month. It also reports his satisfaction at reaching the end feeling capable of competing, after a season filled with farewells. His priorities had shifted from adding a major trophy to experiencing the work and atmosphere of tournament tennis while he still could.
That is an important distinction when judging an athlete’s final years. The value of continuing cannot be measured exclusively against a former peak. A player may still seek meaningful contests, professional pride and the chance to leave on terms he understands. Wawrinka’s own assessment, as reported by the USTA, gives those final appearances a purpose that the win-loss column alone would struggle to describe.
A legacy that survives the last result
The Basel defeat will be the closing entry, but it cannot carry the weight of the whole record. Melbourne, Paris and New York explain his standing as a major champion; Beijing and Lille show his importance to Swiss team tennis. The long career between those milestones supplies the context. Wawrinka’s farewell asks the sport to remember both the exceptional victories and the persistence required to keep returning to competition.
For supporters, the familiar one-handed backhand will remain the most immediate image. The deeper legacy is the evidence that a player can build a distinctive route to greatness without controlling every season. Wawrinka made the opportunities he won count. His career is complete, and its most consequential results remain fixed in the records of the tournaments and teams he helped define.
Sources
Swiss Indoors: Merci, Stan — thank you; USTA: Former US Open champ Stan Wawrinka ends career with Basel farewell; Australian Open: Their last Slams — stars say goodbye to Melbourne Park; Australian Open men’s singles honour roll; Roland-Garros: Ten years on — Wawrinka shows his style; USTA: Flashback — Wawrinka defeats Djokovic for 2016 US Open crown; Olympedia: Beijing2008 men’s doubles gold-medal match; Davis Cup: Federer hands Switzerland first Davis Cup title.
