ROTTERDAM/WASHINGTON, February 16, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)
Three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka is on the move. For the first time since July 2024, the 40-year-old Swiss star is a fixture in the ATP Top 100, ranked No. 98. Not bad when one considers that Wawrinka was ranked No. 156 at the start of this year.
Everywhere Wawrinka has played since the start of the 2026 season – the United Cup in Perth and Sydney, at the Australian Open in Melbourne, the Open Occitanie in southern France, and last week at Rotterdam in the Netherlands – he’s been a welcome presence by tournament organizers and fans.
Recently, the former World No. 3 Wawrinka announced that 2026 would be his last season on the ATP Tour. Since his announcement, the Lausanne native has compiled a 5-7 win-loss record. He’s won at least one match in each event that he has entered. Three of his 2026 losses – versus Taylor Fritz at the Australian Open; against eventual-champion Felix Auger-Aliassime at Montpellier; and to eventual-champion Alex de Minaur at Rotterdam – have come against Top-10 competition.
“I’m a competitor. I want to push my limit; I want to still fight against good players. I want to still win matches. I want to try to be back at the Top 100 at 40 years old,” Wawrinka told the ATP Tour website earlier this year in an interview.
After 21 years, Stan Wawrinka’s memorable Rotterdam ride comes to an end at the hands of top seed Alex de Minaur.
The Australian proved too solid for the 2015 #abnamroopen champion today: 6-4 6-2. pic.twitter.com/kFYWuAvWpy
— ABN AMRO Open (@abnamroopen) February 12, 2026
At the Australian Open, Wawrinka became the oldest man since Ken Rosewall in 1978 to reach the third round. He defeated Laslo Djere, then garnered a five-set win over Arthur Gea.
Wawrinka’s most recent win, against 17-year-old Dutchman Thijs Boogaard at the ABN-Amro Open in Rotterdam last Wednesday, ranked as the second-largest age gap in ATP Tour and Grand Slam history. Separating Wawrinka and Boogaard was a gap of 23 years and three months.
Stan Wawrinka breaks his own record for oldest #abnamroopen match-winner, by defeating the youngest person he could possibly meet in Rotterdam.
The 2015 champion shakes off 17 y/o lucky loser Thijs Boogaard in the Dutchman’s ATP Main Draw debut: 6-3 6-4. pic.twitter.com/pImDmUZfle
— ABN AMRO Open (@abnamroopen) February 11, 2026
Now, Wawrinka stands alone as the oldest player in the current ATP Top 100. The last 40-year-old to feature in the ATP Top 100 was Roger Federer, who was ranked No. 97 in June 2022.
Meanwhile, as Wawrinka approaches his 41st birthday next month – which would make him the oldest player in the Top 100 by more than two years – he’s joined by four other elder statesman players who are ranked inside the Top 100: No. 3 Novak Djokovic (38 years-old), No. 43 Marin Cilic (37), No. 49 Adrian Mannarino (37) and No. 82 Roberto Bautista Agut (37).
“Throughout my career, I do feel like I maximized everything I could,” Wawrinka told the ATP Tour website. “That has always been my goal and it’s still on for the last year. It was always to push my own limits and I achieved way more than I could dream when I was young.”
