At the French Open
Olympic champion before the end of his career: emotional farewell
May 25, 2026 – 5:03 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
At the end of the season, Stanislas Wawrinka will end his career. He now celebrated an emotional farewell at the site of one of his greatest triumphs.
The “lucky pants” remained in the museum – and Stan Wawrinka leaves Paris without a final match success, but with a lot of respect from the sport’s greatest. The 41-year-old Swiss tennis hero suffered a first-round defeat when he left the French Open, but still put on a little show. Despite the loud support of the audience, he lost to the Dutchman Jesper de Jong 3:6, 6:3, 3:6, 4:6.
“It’s hard, it’s hard to see these pictures,” said the three-time major winner Wawrinka, visibly touched after he was honored with a video on the pitch. Legends like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and current top players like Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz also spoke out with greetings. “Many thanks to everyone who worked for this tournament. It is tournaments like this that make me want to play tennis. Of course, I would have liked to continue playing to experience these emotions more often,” concluded Wawrinka.
Wawrinka was actually supposed to play against French hopeful Arthur Fils, but he withdrew due to hip problems. But the world number 113 couldn’t use the somewhat easier draw to his advantage. Wawrinka hit his perfect one-handed backhand over the net a few last times on the Paris court, but de Jong (25) was the fitter player in the heat.
In 2015, Wawrinka triumphed on the Seine. In the final against Novak Djokovic he wore red and white checkered trousers, which subsequently achieved cult status and were exhibited in the Roland Garros tournament museum. Wawrinka joked that he was “not sure” when asked whether he might be allowed to “borrow” him again for his first-round match.
In December last year, the man from Lausanne announced that he would be entering his final season. He is appreciated everywhere and has entered the history books with his three Grand Slam victories in the heyday of superstars Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic. In his long career since 2002, he also won Olympic gold in doubles in 2008 and the Davis Cup in 2014, both alongside Federer. He won the last of his 16 titles in Geneva in 2017.
