In the 24th year of his career, Stan Wawrinka is still making an impression on the court. The Swiss beat Spain’s Martin Landaluce 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(5) in two hours and 46 minutes in the first round at the Lyon Open. In the on-court interview, Marc Maury brought up that Landaluce is a quarterfinalist this year at Miami and Rome and pointed out the 21-year age gap between the two players. The Swiss had a playful reply ready. 

“You don’t have to repeat that, not with every question,” Wawrinka joked and laughed. 

“It’s true that at 41, it’s becoming increasingly difficult, which is also why I’m retiring at the end of the year. But I try to push my limits as much as possible and it was also important for me to feel good on the court for these last two tournaments of my career,” he added.  

The former world No. 3 even thanked the fans, saying it was his first time playing in Lyon and that he was happy to get one last chance to play in France. 

Wawrinka took the first set, but Landaluce saved five break points in the second and won the tiebreak 7-2. The Swiss had three match points in the decider and were unable to convert any. Then, trailing 3-0 in the tiebreak, he turned it around to win it 7-5. It was also his first win since the Geneva Open in May, in a season that has seen him regularly play close games. 

That’s the aspect of Wawrinka’s final year that the win-loss figures don’t reflect. On paper, his record of 7-17 seems lopsided, but many of his contests were close calls. In his 17 losses in 2026, Wawrinka has played 13 tiebreakers, winning only four of them and losing nine. In other words, a handful of points here and there has often separated him from a very different season. The Lyon match, which also went to two tiebreakers, was another example. 

At Wimbledon, in what was his last match at the All England Club, Wawrinka lost to Matteo Berrettini after four sets, all four of which went to tiebreaks, in four hours and 20 minutes. When the two met again at the US Open in August, in Wawrinka’s final Grand Slam match, the first two sets again went to tiebreaks before Berrettini pulled away, winning 7-6(4), 7-6(3), 6-0. Even in defeat, Wawrinka has made life difficult for much younger players.

Next up in Lyon is a tough test: top seed Flavio Cobolli, who leads their head-to-head 2-0. The two met earlier this year at the United Cup, where Cobolli won a three-hour thriller, 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(4), in a match with two tiebreaks as well. Cobolli reached the French Open final this year and made his top-10 debut as a result, so Wawrinka will again be the underdog.

Lyon is Wawrinka’s penultimate tournament, with Basel the last stop on the ATP Tour. After that, he will close his career at home on December 19 at “One Last Backhand,” an exhibition in Geneva, where he will be joined by his longtime friends and rivals Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Gaël Monfils.

For now, though, Wawrinka is not thinking about farewells. The three-time Grand Slam champion is leaving everything out on court in his final season till the last point is played.