A 23-year professional career, 985 matches and three Grand Slam titles: Stan Wawrinka has bowed out of tennis at the age of 41 after a 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) defeat by Jiri Lehecka at the Swiss Indoors in Basel. The former world number three, who spent 267 weeks in the top 10, achieved the seemingly impossible in the era of the Big Three, becoming the only man other than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to win multiple Grand Slam titles between 2006 and 2022. The Swiss beat the very best on his way to the 2014 Australian Open, the 2015 French Open and the 2016 US Open.
"All I wanted in my career was to give everything, have no regrets, to always fight, to always give 100% in every match," said Wawrinka. "Of course there are tears. Of course tomorrow will feel like a hangover... But at some point you have to close the book," he admitted during an emotional farewell. Novak Djokovic hailed him as a legend. "Stan's had an incredible career. The competitor he is on court, talent, strength, power, precision - he had it all," Djokovic said.
