Thirty years ago, Stefan Edberg embarked on the final year of his career, having announced the previous December that 1996 would be his last as a professional. The brilliant Swede had just fallen outside the top 20 for the first time in 10 years and as he turned 30, he decided that enough was enough.
It was, he said years later, a decision he regretted. Not retiring; he felt he’d achieved all he could and perhaps didn’t have quite the motivation of old, but announcing the decision was something he would do differently if he had his time again. Telling everyone he was on a farewell tour added a little unnecessary pressure, he felt. It was something he told Roger Federer in 2020 when the Swiss was nearing the end.
Edberg was one of the all-time greats, of course, and he still managed to have a pretty good year. He reached the final at Queen’s and quarters in Rome; he beat Michael Chang on the way to the last 16 at Roland-Garros, and took out the Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek as he made the quarters at the US Open. He finished the year ranked No 14, but didn’t go back on his word and drifted off into the sunset. It was not until 2014-15 that he really returned to tennis, when Federer came knocking.
announcement may help wawrinka with wildcards
Now, there’s a lot to be said for telling everyone it’s your final year on Tour, especially when you’re a legend, like Edberg, or this year, Stan Wawrinka. At 41, the Swiss, is hanging up his rackets at the end of the year, calling time on a brilliant career, which included three Grand Slam wins, a Davis Cup title, an Olympic gold medal and 16 titles worldwide. On his best days, he was virtually unstoppable and his one-handed backhand should have a museum of its own. He deserves to be fated wherever he goes.
The announcement puts subtle pressure, you would think, on many tournaments, especially Grand Slams, to give him a wildcard he may well need. Ranked just outside the top 100 after Monte-Carlo, where he performed well, winning one match and pushing Sebastian Baez in round two, he will need a wildcard for Roland-Garros and unless he gets some more wins soon, he will need a wildcard for Wimbledon too.
But Wawrinka is a pro, still working hard, still giving his all. This is not a farewell where he simply dials it in. The Swiss continues to play great tennis and deserves all the wildcards he gets. Motivation to get up every day and do it all again is still there, even if he admits it can be tough sometimes.
“If I want to play the year full, I need to keep the mindset as a competitor,” he said in Monte-Carlo. “So I’m always pushing myself. I’m always trying to improve, trying to be better. I put a lot of pressure on myself to try to keep winning some matches. Doesn’t help me much, but at the end, that’s the athlete I am. I’m always going to come on court to try to win, and I cannot just arrive and try just to enjoy because it’s my last one and who cares.
“Of course, there’s days (where it is extra hard). It’s never easy. We only see what’s happening like today on court with full, full crowd, full people. But there is a lot of work behind, especially at 41 years old.
“It requests a lot of discipline, self-discipline, sacrifice, try to stay fit, try to stay at that level. So of course there is days and weeks that are really, really difficult, but at the end it’s worth it. I’m passionate about the sport I love. I love what I do. I know it’s my last year, trying to do the best I can.
“Hopefully I can win a few matches this year to enjoy that feeling of winning, because when you’re a competitor, what you look (for), it’s the win.”
TOURNAMENTS HAVE TIME TO GIVE HIM A SPECIAL SEND-OFF
His announcement also means that every tournament he plays – and there look like being a lot of them according to his schedule, ranking and wildcards permitting – has the time to create something special, be it a montage on screen, or gifts. In Australia, Wawrinka snuck a couple of beers onto court, putting them in the fridge before sharing one with tournament director Craig Tiley after the match.
He says he has no plans for what he might do at each event, just wants to let it happen, let the magic flow, as he did for so long as a player, ripping winners with that wand of a backhand, playing his best tennis in the biggest moments, winning three of his four slam finals, a more than healthy record.
NOT EASY TO WATCH MONTAGES AFTER DEFEATS
Wawrinka knows that at 41 he can’t compete with the young guns, week in, week out. But he’s still capable of big efforts, grand performances, as he showed in Melbourne and again in Monte-Carlo. He still wants to win. Sometimes have to stand there and watch a montage when he has lost is not immediately fun.
“When you lose, it’s not the greatest pleasure,” he said. “You don’t want to stay on the court. Once the match is finished, you really want to put a mental distance with it. After losing, I always think, I don’t want to be here, I don’t deserve to be here, so I want to create a distance between me and the match.
“Of course with experience, I’m able to enjoy the moment. Is it pride? I don’t know. I was always honest on the court. I always tried to share as much as I could with the crowd, take their love, their support, and all the energy they are giving me without thinking about knowing whether I’m proud or whether what I did is great or not. What I wanted is to communicate with the crowd, and this is the reason why I’m still playing. It’s because of those emotions.”
“BEING A TENNIS PLAYER IS SOMETHING AMAZING”
Like Gael Monfils, who is also retiring at the end of the year, Wawrinka will take it all in, enjoying the love of the crowds wherever he goes, right up to Basle, which is likely to be his last ever tournament. Maintaining focus and professionalism is not easy when everywhere you go, people want to look back on your career, ask similar questions.
But Wawrinka will embrace it all. As he said in Monte-Carlo, it’s been a privilege.
“Everything takes a little bit more time,” he said. “You need more practice. You need more recovery. You need more fitness, need more treatment. With getting less results also. Is not my first warm-up, is not my first practice, the repetition, sometimes the travelling, of course. I could talk a lot about all these aspects, but at the end of the day, being a tennis player, it’s a chance. It’s something amazing.
“I always dream about that. I’m 41 and I’m still doing it because I enjoy that. Like I say, I know that it’s not easy to keep pushing myself to be able to do that, but at the end of the day, I love it.
“So I’m OK with everything. I do believe there is too much positive being a tennis player, that we shouldn’t talk about what’s the difficult part.”
