“It’s tough, it’s tough,” said Stan Wawrinka, tears welling in his eyes. “I don’t want to say goodbye to you here.” He was addressing a full crowd on Court Simonne-Mathieu moments after losing his first-round match at the French Open 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Jesper de Jong, a lucky loser from the Netherlands.
This will be the final match and moment for Wawrinka in Paris. The three-time grand slam champion, a winner here in 2015, will retire at the end of the season after a distinguished 25-year career. The 41-year-old announced his decision at the end of last year, allowing him to spend 2026 competing at the biggest tournaments for a final time.
Wawrinka was granted a retirement ceremony on court, with the tournament director, Amélie Mauresmo, and Gilles Moretton, the president of the French Tennis Federation, presenting him with a plaque. The ceremony included video messages from a variety of champions, including Roger Federer, Jannik Sinner, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
Wawrinka said he was surprised by the effect he has had and the love he has received. “I’m always surprised to receive so much love, so much support from other players or from the fans or from tournaments in general.
“I have been on tour for more than 20 years. When I was young, my dream was to be a professional player, to be in the top 100, to have the opportunity to play those tournaments.
“I never expected to achieve so big in tennis, but I never put any limit in my career. I always wanted more. I always walk out to get more, push myself, push my own limits, and try to find my own way to get there. So I’m happy and proud of what I achieved.
“Today it was really tough. It’s never easy to say goodbye to something you love so much and you dedicate all your life for it. It was and it will be difficult to leave Roland Garros.”
His legacy is undeniable. In the most notoriously difficult era, when Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray conspired to shut out all challengers, Wawrinka burst through with his all-court attacking play, driven by one of the most destructive single-handed backhands.
His title here was secured in a four-set win over Djokovic, with the Swiss completely overpowering his opponent in the final three sets: “I never watch it full, that’s for sure,” he said. “I watch some highlights, to make myself happy about my game. Sometimes I watch to think maybe I can do that again, but unfortunately it is not that easy.”
The past few months have shown just how difficult it is to continue competing at the highest level at his age. He remains in great physical shape and he started the season well, reaching the third round of the Australian Open, but wins have been hard to come by. Wawrinka has lost eight of his past 10 matches, his two wins coming against players ranked outside the top 100.
Another who saluted Wawrinka with a video message was Gaël Monfils, who Wawrinka has known for more than two decades and counts as one of his closest friends. Monfils will also retire at the end of the season. Much of the past week here has centred around the tournament saluting one of the country’s most lauded home talents.
Wawrinka had plenty of kind words for his old friend. “Friendship. You don’t need to explain friendship, do you?” he said. “It’s something that comes naturally. His personality, my personality, we get on well together.
“With years passing by, we got to know one another. When we were not on the courts, we were talking about something else. We would see one another quite frequently.
“Gaël is someone exceptional and I think he’s like me. He’s honest. We were very happy for each other when he was winning. Even when we were playing together, there was never any rivalry.
“Each of us wanted to have the best career we could have, but both of us were very happy when the other one was winning.”
