I’ve confirmed the result from several sources and I’m writing the article now.
Stan Wawrinka’s professional career ended at 11.02pm on Tuesday night in Basel. His trademark one-handed backhand went long, and Jiri Lehecka took his first match point to win 7-5 7-6 (7-2) in the first round of the Swiss Indoors. Wawrinka is 41, 17 years older than the Czech eighth seed and more than 100 places below him in the rankings. He went down fighting at his home tournament, served nine aces, and got the loudest ovation of the night from the Basel crowd.
Lehecka went to the net to embrace him, and Wawrinka then walked a lap of honour around the arena. In his on-court interview with Swiss broadcaster SRF he was close to tears. He said he was sad but was leaving with a smile because of how much extraordinary tennis he had lived through.
An honourable final night
The scoreline was close, and so was the match. In the first set Wawrinka had two break points at 3-2 and converted neither. Lehecka broke him in a loose service game to lead 6-5 and then served out the set.
The second set showed what had brought so many people to the arena. Wawrinka played every rally as if it might be his last, and he was clearly enjoying it. At 5-4 up, during a changeover, he joined in a Mexican wave from his chair. Lehecka held his nerve in the tie-break and took it 7-2. The final point came from the backhand that had defined Wawrinka’s career.
Wawrinka announced in December 2025 that 2026 would be his last season. It was a hard year on court. He lost in the first round at Wimbledon and again at the US Open, where he had a wildcard, both times to Matteo Berrettini. The week before Basel, Flavio Cobolli beat him 6-2 6-4 in the second round in Lyon.
The man who beat the Big Three
Wawrinka matters because of the era he played in. From the mid-2000s Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic won almost every Grand Slam title between them, and Andy Murray was usually the only one who could break in. Wawrinka won three majors in three seasons and beat the world number one in every one of those finals:
- Australian Open 2014: He beat Djokovic in the quarter-finals, ending a run of 14 straight defeats against him, then beat an injured Nadal in the final.
- French Open 2015: He beat Djokovic in the final in four sets, one of the best displays of shot-making seen at Roland Garros.
- US Open 2016: He beat Djokovic again in the final, having saved a match point against Dan Evans in the third round.
His career total of three majors is the same as Murray’s. He did it without the kind of junior success most champions have. He won his first Slam at 28, after years as Swiss number two behind Federer. The turnaround came under coach Magnus Norman. Wawrinka liked to point to the lines from Samuel Beckett tattooed on his left forearm: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Over 985 tour matches he won 16 titles and reached a career-high ranking of world number three. He also won Olympic doubles gold with Federer at Beijing 2008 and helped Switzerland win their first Davis Cup in 2014.
What his career leaves behind
Wawrinka’s peak lasted only a few years, but it showed something the rest of the tour needed to see: the Big Three could be beaten in the biggest matches by a player willing to out-hit them. At his best he was hard to stop. He had a heavy first serve, a huge forehand, and a backhand that many players and coaches rate as the best one-hander of his generation. Plenty of others had the talent but not his belief.
His later years were shaped by injuries, which made his longevity more impressive. He had two knee operations in 2017 and surgery on his left foot in 2021. Each time he dropped deep into the rankings and came back, often through Challenger events, when retiring would have been easier.
Basel was the right place to finish. He made 19 appearances at the Swiss Indoors and played almost all of them in Federer’s shadow. On his last night the crowd was there for him. There is one more farewell to come: an exhibition called “One Last Backhand”, planned for December, with Federer, Murray and Gael Monfils.
The men’s game now belongs to a new generation that Wawrinka will only watch. His record shows that a player who peaks late can still beat the best of an era, and few players have done that as well as he did.
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Notes:
– **One detail is my own knowledge:** the Dan Evans match point at the 2016 US Open did not come up in this session’s searches.
– **Lehecka’s ranking:** the sources disagree, so the article just says he was more than 100 places above Wawrinka.
– **Career length:** reports range from 23 to 25 years, so I left it out.
– **Win total:** 590 wins came from only one outlet, so I left it out too.
– **December exhibition:** I didn’t give a location because SRF’s report doesn’t confirm one.
Sources:
– [SRF – Wawrinka unterliegt Lehecka](https://www.srf.ch/sport/tennis/atp-tour/swiss-indoors-in-basel-ende-einer-eindruecklichen-karriere-wawrinka-unterliegt-lehecka)
– [Yahoo Sports – Wawrinka waves farewell to tennis in Basel](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/wawrinka-waves-farewell-tennis-basel-223325549.html)
– [Daily Times – Wawrinka brings career to a close with defeat in Basel](https://dailytimes.com.pk/1573784/wawrinka-brings-career-to-a-close-with-defeat-in-basel)
– [Blick – Swiss Indoors live: Wawrinka v Lehecka](https://www.blick.ch/sport/tennis/swiss-indoors-live-stan-wawrinka-jiri-lehecka/8522zbz)
– [Tennis Majors – Lehecka reaches last 16](https://www.tennismajors.com/atp/swiss-indoors-basel-lehecka-reaches-last-16-864233.html)
– [Punto de Break – Cobolli beats Wawrinka in Lyon](https://www.puntodebreak.com/en/2026/10/22/cobolli-shatters-wawrinkas-dream-in-his-penultimate-tournament-as-professional)
– [ATP Tour – Wawrinka Basel 2026](https://www.atptour.com/en/news/wawrinka-basel-fc-2026)
– [bluewin – Wawrinka to face Lehecka](https://www.bluewin.ch/en/sport/wawrinka-will-face-jiri-lehecka-for-the-first-time-in-the-final-tournament-of-his-career-li.3647312)
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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