40-Year-Old Stan Wawrinka Smashes Ridiculous Tweener During Challenger Match

Stan Wawrinka played the Australian Open and the French Open but skipped the other two Grand Slam events this season.

40-Year-Old Stan Wawrinka Smashes Ridiculous Tweener During Challenger Match

Stan Wawrinka hits a tweener during a Challenger match (Image via X/We Are Tennis, The Tennis Letter)

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Stan Wawrinka is not ready to stop. At the age of 40, he is still frequently featuring in tournaments, be it Challenger or ATP levels.

At present, Wawrinka is participating in Challenger Rennes, where he first knocked out Frenchman Kenny de Schepper before eliminating another home favorite, Dan Added, in the following round. During his match against added, the Swiss hit a stunning tweener.

Wawrinka was leading 4-2 in the first set with both players winning a point in the seventh game. During the rally at 15-15, Wawrinka sprinted back toward the baseline to hit the tweener and win the point.

Watch the video here:

He also took to Instagram to react to his shot. “Not too bad for an old man,” Wawrinka wrote on Instagram.

The second seed will next be locking horns with Belgium’s Michael Geerts. Before scheduling the clash with the three-time Grand Slam champion, Geerts knocked out Federico Cina in straight sets.

Wawrinka is one of the oldest players on the tour yet to hang up his racket. But he is not the oldest one. America’s Leslie Rose, 53, is still playing. On the men’s tour, 47-year-old Toshihide Matsui and Indian’s 45-year-old Rohan Bopanna, as well as 45-year-old David Marrero from Spain, are yet to call time on their respective careers.

And so is Venus Williams. The 45-year-old recently played the US Open, where Karolina Muchova knocked her out in the first round. But in doubles, she and Leylah Fernandez reached the quarterfinals only to lose to eventual runners-up and second seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend. Williams also played mixed doubles with Reilly Opelka, but they lost in the first round.

Stan Wawrinka claims that he is still playing because of debt

One social media user on X questioned whether Stan Wawrinka is still playing because he loves the sport or whether he is forced to play to pay off debts. Wawrinka noticed the tweet and gave a witty answer.

Stan Wawrinka
Stan Wawrinka (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)

Not sure challenger prize money can pay any debt.

Stan Wawrinka wrote on X

Check out his post here:

If the former World No. 3 wins the Challenger Rennes, he will take home $170,334. It’s an indoor hardcourt tournament.

Before Challenger Rennes, Wawrinka participated in the Challenger de Cancun, where his run was ended by Thiago Agustin Tirante in the semifinals. The last ATP tournament he played was the Umag Open, where fourth seed Damir Dzumhur eliminated him in the fourth round.

Wawrinka last lifted an ATP Title back in 2017. He beat Mischa Zverev at the Geneva Open, and since then, he has reached four finals, losing all. The last time he reached the summit clash of a tournament was at the 2023 Umag Open, losing it in three sets to Alexei Popyrin.

In Grand Slam events, Wawrinka last played a final at the 2017 French Open, losing the match to Rafael Nadal. Since then, he has only thrice made it to the quarterfinals of Majors. This season, Wawrinka skipped Wimbledon and the US Open. He was hoping to get the wild card to enter Flushing Meadows, but upon being denied the same, he chose not to play the qualifiers.

At the Australian Open and French Open, he couldn’t progress beyond the first round, losing to Lorenzo Sonego and Jacob Fearnley, respectively. In the Challenger this year, Wawrinka reached one final – in Aix-en-Provence, losing the match to Borna Coric.

So far in his career, Wawrinka has played 31 tour-level finals and taken home 16 titles. The last time he won multiple titles in a season was in 2016 when he clinched the Maharashtra Open, Dubai Open, Geneva Open, as well as the US Open (by defeating 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic).

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