Stan Wawrinka has officially ended his decorated career as a professional tennis player.
Wawrinka lost to Jiri Lehecka in the first round of the Swiss Indoors in Basel, where he had announced he would retire from tennis.
This brings an end to Wawrinka’s 23-year career on the ATP Tour, which has seen him win 16 titles including three Grand Slams.
The first of those Grand Slam titles came at the 2014 Australian Open, where Wawrinka set a tennis record which will never be replicated.
What is your best memory of Stan Wawrinka?
Stan Wawrinka is the only player to beat Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the same Grand Slam
Wawrinka was the eighth seed at the 2014 Australian Open, having never reached a Grand Slam final before. Despite this, Wawrinka made it all the way to the quarter-finals in Melbourne, where he would face second seed and three-time defending Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.
At this point, Wawrinka had lost his last 14 matches against Djokovic, and was therefore the big underdog into this Australian Open quarter-final.
Despite this, Wawrinka was able to pull off the upset in a four-hour plus match, winning the deciding set 9-7, as fifth sets were played until a player had a two-game advantage at the time. Wawrinka would then back this up with a semi-final victory over Tomas Berdych, as he reached his first Grand Slam final.
This is where Wawrinka would face top seed Rafael Nadal, who had already beaten Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori and Grigor Dimitrov to reach the final. Wawrinka had never beaten Nadal before, but he was able to do so with an impressive Australian Open final appearance to claim his first Grand Slam title.
As a result of this victory, Wawrinka became the first player to beat both Djokovic and Nadal at a major tournament. With Nadal now retired from tennis, Wawrinka retires as the only player to have achieved this feat in history.
| Australian Open 2014 | Stan Wawrinka’s result |
| First Round | Beat Andrey Golubev, 6-4 4-1 (Golubev retired) |
| Second Round | Beat Alejandro Falla, 6-3 6-3 6(4)-7 6-4 |
| Third Round | Received a walkover after Vasek Pospisil withdrew |
| Fourth Round | Beat Tommy Robredo (17), 6-3 7-6(3) 7-6(5) |
| Quarter-final | Beat Novak Djokovic (2), 2-6 6-4 6-2 3-6 9-7 |
| Semi-final | Beat Tomas Berdych (7), 6-3 6(1)-7 7-6(3) 7-6(4) |
| Final | Beat Rafael Nadal (1), 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3 |
Stan Wawrinka’s overall Head-to-head vs Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic
While Wawrinka beat both Nadal and Djokovic at the 2014 Australian Open, he generally struggled against both players.
In a combined 49 matches against Nadal and Djokovic, Wawrinka won just nine of those matches. However, Wawrinka appeared to excel over the best-of-five set format, in particular with his head-to-head against Djokovic being narrowed to just 5-4 in major tournaments.
This includes Wawrinka’s win over Djokovic in the 2014 Australian Open quarter-finals, as well as beating him in the finals of both Roland Garros in 2015 and the 2016 US Open.
The only Grand Slam final Wawrinka ever lost was at Roland Garros in 2017, where he was beaten by record champion Nadal.
| Stan Wawrinka vs | Rafael Nadal | Novak Djokovic |
| Overall Head-to-head | 19-3 Nadal | 21-6 Djokovic |
| Head-to-head at Grand Slams | 3-1 Nadal | 5-4 Djokovic |
Wawrinka leaves tennis as a three-time Grand Slam champion, equal with the likes of Andy Murray, Arthur Ashe and Jan Kodes.
These achievements have almost guaranteed that Wawrinka will be inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in five years’ time, when he will first become eligible.
