Stan Wawrinka’s French Open goodbye ended on Monday with a first-round loss to Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong, 3-6 6-3 3-6 4-6, in a match that lasted just over three hours. The 41-year-old collapsed to the court after the final point, then bowed his head in his chair before a post-match ceremony that brought a special trophy and tributes from tennis’s biggest names.
Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic all sent congratulations in a video message as Wawrinka closed out his 21st and final French Open campaign. The result also marked the end of a career chapter that began with his title run in Paris in 2015 and helped define a run of major success that also included the Australian Open in 2014 and the US Open in 2016.
Wawrinka had already said at the start of 2026 that this would be his final season in professional tennis, and Monday’s loss turned that decision into a public farewell in the place he said he grew up watching. He said he grew up watching Roland Garros, that he is from Switzerland, from the French part, and that the dream as a child was to come back from school, turn on France Television and watch late into the night. He also said he kept playing for so long because of the support and love he felt from the people, adding that the affection made the day feel like more than he could have expected or dreamed of.
The setting made the exit harder to watch because Wawrinka was not just leaving a tournament; he was leaving the event that shaped much of his identity as a player. He won Olympic gold in 2008 alongside Roger Federer in doubles and helped Switzerland win the Davis Cup in 2014, but his Paris victory in 2015 remains the result most closely tied to Roland Garros. He said the French Open would always be completely different from the other tournaments, and Monday’s scene made clear why.
That sadness was shared across the stadium on a night that also featured another farewell of sorts. Gael Monfils, who is also retiring at season’s end, lost to countryman Hugo Gaston just before midnight, 2-6 3-6 6-3 6-2 0-6. Monfils and Wawrinka both made their French Open debuts 21 years ago, and their exits on the same night gave the closing stages of the tournament an older, final-season feel.
For Wawrinka, the numbers now sit beside the memories: 21 French Open campaigns, three major titles, Olympic gold and a Davis Cup triumph. What remains after Monday is the image of him on the clay, head down, taking in the applause of a crowd that seemed determined to treat his first-round defeat as the end of something larger and harder to replace.
