Stan Wawrinka’s final year in tennis has been a brilliant reminder of just how classy the Swiss star is.
Wawrinka will hang up his racket at the end of 2026, but he’s been producing some stunning displays in the first part of the season.
The star has reached the third round of the Australian Open and the quarter-final in Rotterdam, which has led John Isner to claim he doesn’t believe Wawrinka will retire at the end of the year.
The star set himself a goal when announcing his retirement at the beginning of the year, and he had already managed it.
Stan Wawrinka is set to return to the top 100 after Rotterdam displays
Wawrinka has already collected 50 ranking points for beating Thijs Boogaard and setting up a last eight match with Alex de Minaur.
That has helped him jump eight places in the rankings as he currently sits at world number 98 on the ATP Tour.
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During his retirement announcement, Wawrinka outlined one of his goals in a social media post: “I would like to climb the rankings again and finish the year in the top 100.”
Now there is plenty of time to go until the end of the year, but if Wawrinka continues to play at his current level he will almost definitely achieve just that.
The star only played 17 matches last year, so he will have little to no ranking points to defend across the year.
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Wawrinka only sporadically performed on the ATP Tour last term, instead opting to play Challenger events.
The star only won four matches at ATP-level across 2025, which he has already broken in his swansong year.
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The 40-year-old has picked up victories against Arthur Rinderknech, Laslo Djere, Arthur Gea, Hamad Medjedovic, and Boogaard.
With plenty more wild cards almost certainly set to come the way of the Swiss star, Wawrinka could even join the top 50 before he retires from the sport.
Wawrinka has, so far, picked up wild cards at the Australian Open, Rotterdam Open, and Open Occitanie throughout 2026.
