{"id":738543,"date":"2026-07-02T08:21:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T08:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/738543\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T08:21:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T08:21:27","slug":"tennis-world-pays-tribute-after-grand-slam-champs-career-at-wimbledon-comes-to-sad-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/738543\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis world pays tribute after grand slam champ’s career at Wimbledon comes to sad end"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka<\/a> has bid an emotional farewell to Wimbledon<\/a> after a heartbreaking first-round loss to Matteo Berrettini. The 41-year-old announced at the start of the year that he\u2019ll retire at season\u2019s end<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was granted a wildcard into the singles draw at Wimbledon for his final ever tournament at the All England Club. The Swiss great produced a typically fighting performance against Berrettini on Tuesday night, but went down in four tie-breakers 7-6 (9-7) 6-7 (16-18) 6-7 (7-9) 6-7 (5-7).<\/p>\n

\"Stan<\/p>\n

Stan Wawrinka lost in the first round in his Wimbledon farewell. Image: Tennis Letter\/BBC<\/p>\n

The three-time grand slam champion<\/a> waved to fans as he left the court, and fought back tears as he spoke. \u201cI don\u2019t want to retire but I know it\u2019s time for me to stop,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of the reasons I kept playing for so long was to enjoy these moments like tonight. So much emotion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so grateful to have this opportunity. To have received a wildcard. To have the chance to play one last time in Wimbledon. It\u2019s such a special tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kid you always dream about maybe being here one day. I had a chance to play it so many times. With that kind of support, it means so much to me. Thank you so much for all those years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Stan<\/p>\n

Stan Wawrinka was emotional as he farewelled Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

(Ben Whitley – PA Images)Tennis world pays tribute to Stan Wawrinka<\/p>\n

Berrettini produced a classy gesture in the tunnel when he presented Wawrinka with a Wimbledon towel as a memento. \u201cMatteo is a good friend. He\u2019s a great guy. He deserved to win, so congrats,\u201d Wawrinka said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never easy to say goodbye to something you love so much. I\u2019ve always been passionate about the game. I\u2019m grateful. I\u2019d like to thank everybody because I had a chance, this opportunity to play here. I couldn\u2019t dream of a better goodbye. Thank you so much for the support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wawrinka became the fourth grand slam champion to lose in the first round, joining Serena Williams, Marin Cilic and Bianca Andreescu<\/a>. One person wrote online: \u201cWe don’t want you to go, Stan! What a legend!\u201d<\/p>\n

Another commented: \u201cMoments like this are bigger than tennis. That\u2019s legacy, admiration, and gratitude all in one.\u201d While a third added: \u201cWhat a match. What a player. What a career. Thank you Stan and all the very best for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka has bid an emotional farewell to Wimbledon after a heartbreaking first-round loss to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[56343,100517,99,23283,428,96],"class_list":["post-738543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-grand-slam-champion","tag-matteo-berrettini","tag-sports","tag-stan-wawrinka","tag-tennis","tag-wimbledon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}