The Other Swiss Champion: Stan Wawrinka's Unlikely Road to Greatness

For years, Stan Wawrinka played in Roger Federer's shadow. Then he won three Grand Slam titles, defeated the greatest players of his generation, and built a legacy entirely his own.

Stan Wawrinka's final professional match ended on a Tuesday evening in Basel, the Swiss city where Roger Federer won ten titles and became something close to a sporting institution. Facing Jiří Lehečka in the opening round of the Swiss Indoors, Wawrinka fought through two competitive sets before falling 7–5, 7–6(2). At 41, after more than two decades on tour, he was finished.

There was a certain symmetry to the setting. For much of his career, Wawrinka had been Switzerland's other tennis player, the capable countryman who shared a flag with one of the most celebrated athletes in history. Federer had already won twelve Grand Slam singles titles by the time the two men teamed up to capture Olympic doubles gold in Beijing in 2008. Wawrinka, then 23, had yet to advance beyond the fourth round of a major.

It would have been easy to spend an entire career in that position. Wawrinka was talented, respected, and good enough to make a comfortable living on the ATP Tour. He had a formidable one-handed backhand, a powerful serve, and the ability to trouble almost anyone when his timing was right. But there was little reason to imagine that he would eventually join Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic as a multiple Grand Slam champion.

And yet, he did.

What makes Wawrinka's career remarkable is not simply that he won three majors during an era dominated by three of the greatest players tennis has ever known. It is that he did so after spending nearly a decade looking like a player whose ceiling had already been established.

His greatness arrived late, announced itself violently, and proved impossible to ignore.

I. The Swiss Tennis Player Who Wasn't Roger Federer

Born in Lausanne in 1985, Wawrinka turned professional in 2002, just as Federer was beginning his ascent toward the top of men's tennis. The two Swiss players would eventually become close collaborators in international competition, but their professional trajectories could hardly have been more different.

Federer won his first Wimbledon title in 2003 at 21. Wawrinka won his first ATP singles title three years later, in Umag, Croatia. By the time Wawrinka reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2010 US Open, Federer had accumulated sixteen major titles.

Wawrinka's progress was respectable rather than spectacular. He entered the top ten in 2008, reached the quarterfinals of several majors, and developed a reputation as a dangerous opponent whose best tennis did not always appear consistently enough to threaten the established hierarchy.

There were occasional flashes of something more. His backhand, struck with one hand and startling racket-head speed, could transform a defensive rally into an outright winner. When he was playing freely, he could hit through opponents who were accustomed to controlling points.

But talent alone was not enough. His results fluctuated, and the gap between his best performances and his ordinary ones remained substantial.

In 2008, Wawrinka and Federer won Olympic doubles gold in Beijing, defeating Sweden's Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson in the final. It was a landmark achievement for Swiss tennis and an early indication that Wawrinka could perform under the pressure of a major occasion. Still, the public narrative belonged to Federer.

That began to change when Wawrinka started working with Swedish coach Magnus Norman in 2013. Norman, a former world No. 2 and French Open finalist, helped Wawrinka develop greater consistency and conviction. The transformation was not instantaneous, but its effects soon became apparent.

Wawrinka was approaching 28, an age when many players of his generation had already enjoyed their finest seasons. Instead, he was preparing to enter the most successful period of his career.

II. The Match He Lost Before He Started Winning

The first great indication came at the 2013 Australian Open.

In the fourth round, Wawrinka faced defending champion Novak Djokovic, already established as the dominant hard-court player in the world. Their encounter became one of the tournament's defining matches.

Wawrinka took the opening set 6–1 and pushed Djokovic the full distance, attacking with a freedom and ferocity that repeatedly unsettled the Serbian. Djokovic eventually prevailed 1–6, 7–5, 6–4, 6–7(5), 12–10, ending a contest that lasted more than five hours.

Wawrinka left Melbourne without a victory, but something important had changed.

He had demonstrated that he could sustain his highest level against Djokovic across an entire Grand Slam match. He had come within a handful of points of defeating a player who seemed almost unbeatable in Australia.

The loss was devastating, but it was also instructive. Wawrinka no longer needed to wonder whether his best tennis was good enough.

Twelve months later, he returned to Melbourne and faced Djokovic again, this time in the quarterfinals.

The match was another five-set struggle, but the ending was different. Wawrinka won 9–7 in the fifth, ending Djokovic's run of three consecutive Australian Open titles and finally breaking through against an opponent who had repeatedly denied him.

He followed that victory by defeating Tomáš Berdych in the semifinals, reaching his first Grand Slam final at 28, where Rafael Nadal awaited him.

Nadal entered the final seeking his second Australian Open title, but Wawrinka took control early, winning the first set and establishing a commanding lead in the second. Nadal developed a back injury that severely restricted his movement, complicating a contest that Wawrinka had already begun impressively.

Wawrinka eventually won 6–3, 6–2, 3–6, 6–3.

The circumstances of Nadal's injury inevitably became part of the discussion, but Wawrinka's achievement extended well beyond the final. He had beaten Djokovic and Nadal in the same tournament, claimed his first major, and risen to world No. 3. He was no longer merely an accomplished player with a beautiful backhand. He was a Grand Slam champion.

A few months later, he defeated Federer in the Monte Carlo final to claim his first Masters 1000 title. It was a rare victory over his celebrated countryman, and another indication that Wawrinka's place in the sport was changing. For the first time, the Swiss tennis story had two active Grand Slam singles champions.

III. Three Majors, Three Statements

If the Australian Open established Wawrinka as a major champion, the 2015 French Open established the full extent of his capabilities.

Djokovic arrived in Paris pursuing the only Grand Slam title missing from his collection. He had defeated Nadal in the quarterfinals and survived a demanding five-set semifinal against Andy Murray. The prospect of completing his career Grand Slam appeared tantalizingly close. Standing in the way was the one man who had already taken a major away from him.

Before reaching the final, Wawrinka defeated Federer in straight sets in the quarterfinals, producing a performance of controlled aggression that left his countryman with few answers. He then overcame Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to earn a meeting with Djokovic.

Djokovic won the opening set of the final 6–4. For a time, the familiar pattern seemed likely to repeat itself: the world's best defender absorbing an opponent's attacks until the risks became unsustainable.

Instead, Wawrinka attacked harder.

His backhand became the defining shot of the afternoon. From positions where most players would have been content to reset a rally, Wawrinka drove the ball crosscourt or down the line with astonishing pace. Djokovic's exceptional movement and defensive instincts, so often sufficient to frustrate even the greatest attackers, could not consistently contain him.

Wawrinka won 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4.

It was one of the finest performances of his career and one of the most memorable Grand Slam finals of the decade. The victory was especially striking because Djokovic was not an aging champion being overtaken by a younger rival. He was at the height of his powers, and Wawrinka had beaten him simply by playing better tennis than the best player in the world.

The Swiss player who had spent years searching for consistency had discovered a level that even Djokovic could not always withstand.

Then came New York.

At the 2016 US Open, Wawrinka survived a match point against Dan Evans in the third round before gradually working his way into the tournament. He defeated Juan Martín del Potro in the quarterfinals and Kei Nishikori in the semifinals, setting up another major final against Djokovic.

This time Djokovic won the opening set in a tiebreak. Once again, Wawrinka refused to retreat. He took the next three sets, winning 6–7(1), 6–4, 7–5, 6–3, and claiming his third Grand Slam singles title at 31.

There was now no reasonable way to describe his success as an isolated breakthrough. He had won three of the four Grand Slam finals he would ultimately contest, defeating Nadal once and Djokovic twice in championship matches.

His overall record against the Big Three remained heavily unfavorable. Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic defeated him far more often than he defeated them. He was never their equal in week-to-week dominance or sustained excellence.

But on certain afternoons, particularly in Grand Slam competition, Wawrinka possessed something almost as frightening: the ability to raise his game to a level that could overwhelm anyone.

His achievements were not those of a player who controlled an era. They were those of a player who could interrupt one. Wawrinka did not need to dominate men's tennis to leave a permanent mark on it. He needed only a few extraordinary weeks, and the conviction to seize them.

IV. The Champion Who Stayed

Wawrinka's final Grand Slam final came at Roland Garros in 2017, where he lost to Nadal in straight sets. But the most consequential match of that tournament may have been his semifinal against Andy Murray.

Murray, the world No. 1, was coming off the best season of his career in 2016. Wawrinka was defending the reputation he had established as one of the sport's most dangerous Grand Slam competitors.

Their semifinal became a punishing contest lasting four hours and 34 minutes. Wawrinka prevailed 6–7(6), 6–3, 5–7, 7–6(3), 6–1, surviving a match that demanded nearly everything both men could offer. In retrospect, it carried a heavier significance.

Murray later identified the semifinal as the match from which his already troublesome hip never recovered. His physical condition deteriorated over the following weeks, eventually requiring surgery and fundamentally altering the remainder of his career.

Wawrinka, meanwhile, was approaching his own physical crisis.

After Wimbledon that summer, persistent knee problems brought his season to an end. He underwent two operations on his left knee, beginning a long period of rehabilitation and interrupted competition.

Neither man would reach another Grand Slam singles final.

The 2017 Roland Garros semifinal thus occupies an unusual place in tennis history: a magnificent contest that, with hindsight, also seems to mark the closing of a chapter for two of the era's most accomplished players.

For Wawrinka, the years that followed were defined less by trophies than by persistence.

There were encouraging performances, including a run to the 2019 French Open quarterfinals and another US Open quarterfinal later that year. He could still produce breathtaking winners and challenge elite opponents. His backhand remained a spectacle, even as his movement and physical durability became harder to maintain.

Further operations on his left foot in 2021 threatened his ability to continue competing. Yet Wawrinka returned.

He played Challenger tournaments, accepted wild cards, endured early defeats, and kept searching for the form that had once made him a champion. The contrast with his peak years was sometimes difficult to watch. A player who had defeated Djokovic in two Grand Slam finals was now fighting for ranking points and first-round victories.

But there was something admirable in his refusal to disappear simply because the trophies had stopped coming.

In January 2026, at 40, Wawrinka reached the third round of the Australian Open, becoming the oldest man to advance that far at a Grand Slam since Ken Rosewall in 1978. It was not another championship, but it was a reminder of his enduring appetite for competition.

And so the story returned to Switzerland.

Basel had always belonged, in the public imagination, to Federer. The hometown champion won the tournament ten times, turning the Swiss Indoors into an annual celebration of his career.

Wawrinka never won the title. His best results were two semifinal appearances, in 2006 and 2011.

But when he arrived for his final appearance in October 2026, he no longer stood in anyone's shadow. He had won sixteen ATP singles titles, three Grand Slam championships, an Olympic gold medal alongside Federer, and the Davis Cup with Switzerland in 2014. He had reached world No. 3 and produced some of the most memorable performances of a generation.

He had also spent years fighting to return to a level of tennis he knew he might never reach again.

Wawrinka never matched Federer's records, celebrity, or seemingly effortless command of the sport. That was never going to be his story. His was a career of late breakthroughs, spectacular victories, difficult recoveries, and an unusually stubborn commitment to the game.

Against Lehečka, he was no longer the player who had overwhelmed Djokovic in Paris or New York. The power came only in flashes now, and time had taken its toll. But he did what he had always done when the odds were long: he made the man across the net earn it. Lehečka needed a tiebreak to finish the job, in a building that had always belonged to someone else.

Wawrinka never controlled an era. For a few unforgettable afternoons, he interrupted one. On his last night as a professional, he was still making someone fight for every point.