Opinion: Stanislas Wawrinka will always be the second best Swiss male tennis player

Stanislas Wawrinka (Google Images)

Stanislas Wawrinka of Lausanne, Switzerland has announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2026 tennis season according to the Tico Times on Tuesday. Wawrinka is one of two high profile ATP players who intend to retire at the end of the 2026 tennis season. The other is Gael Monfils of France.

Wawrinka is currently 40 years old and will be 41 years old when he retires. He is best known for being a three-time grand slam singles champion. Wawrinka won the 2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open and 2016 United States Open. Wawrinka also won the gold medal with Roger Federer for Switzerland in men’s doubles at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

When Wawrinka won the 2014 Australian Open, he beat Rafael Nadal of Spain in the final, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. When Wawrinka won the 2015 French Open, he beat Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the final, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. When Wawrinka won the 2016 United States Open, he beat Djokovic again in the final, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. When Wawrinka won Olympic gold with Federer, they beat Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in the final. For Federer, he always stated that was his proudest moment in his tennis career.

In all, Wawrinka won 16 ATP events in his career. He also won the 2006 Croatia Open, the 2010 Grand Prix Hassan (annual tennis event in Morocco), the 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Maharashtra Open in India, the 2013 Portugal Open, the 2014 Monte Carlo Masters, the 2015 Rotterdam Open, the 2015 Japan Open, 2016 Dubai Championship, 2016 and 2017 Geneva Open.

Anyway you look at it, Wawrinka will be known as the second best male tennis player from Switzerland all-time and the third best player overall. The best Swiss player is clearly Federer, with Martina Hingis as the best female tennis player. Ironically, Federer was also 41 when he retired.

In Wawrinka’s prime, the tennis world was known for having the Fab Four (Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, and Great Britain’s Andy Murray). However, one must realize, Wawrinka won the same number of grand slam tennis tournaments that Murray won as they won three each.