Stan Wawrinka Loses His Final Tour Match to Lehecka in Basel
Stan Wawrinka lost his last tour-level match on Tuesday, beaten 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) by Czech player Jiri Lehecka in Basel, Switzerland. The 41-year-old Swiss ends a professional career that lasted 23 years and 985 matches.
The defeat came at the Swiss Indoors, an ATP 500 event. That is a mid-sized tournament on the men's tour, one step below the biggest events. Wawrinka had been due to retire after the week in Basel, his home-country event.
The first set went to Lehecka 7-5. The second set reached 6-6 and was decided by a tiebreak, a short seven-point game played to settle a set. Lehecka won that 7-2, and the match.
Wawrinka's record is the reason his farewell drew so much attention. He won three Grand Slam titles, the four biggest tournaments in the sport. He was a former world number three, the third-best player in the rankings at his peak.
His 2014 Australian Open run stands out. He entered as the eighth seed, a ranking-based placing that keeps the strongest players apart in the early rounds. He beat Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals, then beat top seed Rafael Nadal in the final.
A year later at the 2015 French Open, he beat Roger Federer in the quarter-finals and Djokovic in the final. He completed the set at the 2016 US Open, beating Djokovic in the final again. Earlier that tournament, in the third round, he had saved a match point against Britain's Dan Evans. A match point is one point away from winning the match, so saving it means the opponent must keep going.
His farewell tour began in February, when he played Daniil Medvedev in Dubai. In May he made his final French Open appearance, losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Dutchman Jesper de Jong. In August he posted a farewell message to the US Open.
Basel prepared a proper send-off. Wawrinka visited FC Basel, the city's football club, the week before. The Swiss Indoors planned a tribute to his career on Super Monday, 26 October, at 6:00 pm local time.
For Swiss fans, the result closes a long chapter. The tournament that held his farewell is now the place where his last match was played, and where the tennis world said goodbye.
