Premium

‘I’m not doing the year to just say goodbye in tournaments. It’s my last year…’ : Three-time grand slam winner Stan Wawrinka after his exit form Australian Open

The former world number three, who is playing in his last year as a professional player, suffered a 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss against American Taylor Fritz in the third round in the Australian Open on Saturday

4 min readJan 24, 2026 09:37 PM IST

Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland waves as he leaves the court following his third round loss to Taylor Fritz of the U.S. at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

A day after he became the oldest man to reach the third round of the Australian Open since Ken Rosewell achieved the feat in 1978, former world number three and 2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka bowed out of his last Australian Open with a 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss against American Taylor Fritz in the third round of the Australian Open at the John Cain Arena. Wawrinka, who won the 2014 Australian Open with a win over Rafael Nadal, would spend time sharing a beer with tournament director Craig Tiley apart from sharing emotional words with the crowd.

“My mindset was what I have been saying, I’m not doing the year to just say goodbye in tournaments. It’s my last year, so of course when I’m going to lose in a tournament, it’s going to be a goodbye for this tournament, but my mindset is still a competitor and I always want to push myself. I’m trying to find the balance between competitor, trying to win, but at the same time enjoying those moments with the fans, with the atmosphere. And here it was more than I could expect with the support. Every match was something really special, and I really appreciate that.” Wawrinka said in the post match press conference.

Earlier, the world number 139 had announced that 2026 will be his last year on the international circuit as a professional player. The Swiss had scored wins over Laslo Diere and Arthur Gea prior to his third round loss. Against Gea, Wawrinka had prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) in a match lasting four hour and 33 minutes. It also meant that Wawrinka played in his 58th five-set match in his career. With 31 wins out of those 58 matches, Wawrinka,s name stands out in the record for having played in the most five-set matches. When asked about his run in the Australian Open, Wawrinka shared how he pushed himself to reach that level. “Surprised? No. Because I know I was practising, how much I pushed myself to try to get to that level. I think the United Cup was the perfect start, because it gave me a lot of time on the court against top players. Even if I won only one match, I had the chance to play five and spend a lot of time. This is exactly what I was missing last year. This for me was a great two weeks, three weeks, between here and the United Cup. The level was great. I can see that I’m competitive, that I’m feeling good on the court, that I can win some good matches, and play against the top players. It’s exactly what I’m looking for. This doesn’t change my goal for the year,” Wawrinka said. “It’s always going to be to push my limit. It’s not because I played well these three weeks that I’m going to win a lot of matches in the next few months. But at least I know where my level is and what I can still do, and I’m happy with that,” said Wawrinka.

Wawrinka had won his maiden grand slam title with a win over Rafael Nadal in the 2014 Australian Open followed by his titles in the 2015 French Open and 2016 US Open with wins over Novak Djokovic. The Serbian too praised Wawrinka on Saturday. “He’s a great champion on and off the court, a very likeable guy. He did everything the right way, and he deserved every applause he had this tournament. When he’s gone, tennis is going to lose a great player and a great person,” Djovokic told reporters after his win over B van de Zandschulp in the third round.