Swiss legend Stan Wawrinka was knocked out of the Swiss Indoors tournament on Thursday, losing to former world number two Casper Ruud.
Before facing Ruud, the 40-year-old stunned Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round, winning the contest 6-1, 7-6.
However, Ruud proved too strong for the Swiss star, winning their round of 16 contest 6-4, 7-6.
Before competing in Switzerland, Wawrinka played at the Shanghai Masters, where he lost in the first round to Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan.
At 40 years old, Wawrinka is in the twilight of his tennis career, and discussions around his future retirement have been a hot topic over the past year.
Stan Wawrinka’s ‘passion’ for tennis has prevented him from retiring from the sport
However, it does not appear that Wawrinka will be retiring from tennis any time soon when taking into account his most recent social media post.
The three-time Grand Slam champion appears to have never lost his passion for the sport, despite falling down the rankings in recent years.
On X [Twitter], Wawrinka said: “Passion – a strong liking, desire, or devotion to an activity.
“When I started playing tennis at 8 years old, it was just a game. Then it became my passion. My dream was to one day become a professional tennis player.
“I know that as an athlete, people like to think they know when it’s time for you to stop. People believe that when you get older, when you don’t play at the same level, don’t have the same ranking or same result, you should stop. As much as I’m a competitor, as much as I love to win, it’s not always about that.
“Passion is not always about the results – it’s about pushing your limits.
“I’m ok not to win a Grand Slam anymore. I’m ok with not being top 10 anymore. But I love the process of always pushing my own limits.
“I know the end of my career will come one day, but until then, I will always give my best fight. To all the fans around the world who support me, to the fans in Basel this week – thank you.
“It means the world to me. That’s why I keep pushing myself.”
Stan Wawrinka’s first ATP Tour final
Stan Wawrinka’s first ATP Tour final came at the 2005 Gstaad Open.
The Swiss star defeated Filippo Volandri, Fernando Verdasco, Frantisek Cermak and Razvan Sabau on the way to the final.
In the final, Wawrinka was defeated by second seed Gauston Gaudio, 6-4, 6-4.
Wawrinka won his first title a year later, defeating Novak Djokovic in the final. Djokovic was leading 3-1 in the first set tiebreak when he retired from the match.
