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Wawrinka bids adieu to Roland Garros with first-round loss

tennis25 May 2026 19:46| © AFP
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Stan Wawrinka © Getty Images

Former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka bowed out of his 21st and final Roland Garros on Monday with a four-set defeat to Jesper de Jong.

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The 41-year-old Swiss will hang up his racquet at the end of the current season and had hoped for one last swansong at the major he won in 2015 but his goodbye was cut short in the first round.

Wawrinka went down in just over three hours on court under a blazing sun 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Dutch lucky loser De Jong.

After the match, Wawrinka was presented with a glass case containing a section of a clay court and two video tributes to his career were displayed on big screens around the stadium – the latter featuring messages directed to Wawrinka from former champions Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, among other luminaries of the sport.

"It's hard, I don't want to say goodbye to you here," Wawrinka said, before also thanking the people who work behind the scenes at the tournament.

"Unfortunately, it's my last match at Roland Garros, but thank you."

"Me too, I love you," he added in response to cries from the spectators of 'we love you, Stan'.

"Thanks to all your support, I wanted to go on as long as possible, to 41 years of age, to continue living moments like this."

Despite the mercury tipping over 30C, there were few empty seats to spare on Court Simonne Mathieu to see the hugely-popular former world No 3 appear for the final time on the red dirt in Paris.

A crushing forehand by De Jong earned the 106th-ranked player the crucial break to get ahead 5-4 in the fourth set.

His every point roared on by the crowd, Wawrinka forced a break-back opportunity but his best efforts to prolong his stay in Roland Garros, which at one moment left him lying panting on his back, were in vain as De Jong battled into the second round.

"To be honest, it's not about me today," the 25-year-old said. "Funny story about Stan, he was playing against my coach when I was a ball kid!

"It's all about Stan today."

The high temperatures took their toll on two-time runner-up Casper Ruud and Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin, as the Norwegian narrowly avoided a first opening-round defeat at Roland Garros, winning 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 0-6, 6-2.

Both players had medical time-outs in the fourth set and they took over 16 minutes to return to court ahead of the fifth, as the rallies slowed to walking pace.

Ruud found just enough energy as the decider went on, though, with Safiullin continuing to wilt in the evening sunshine.

Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar enjoyed a winning French Open debut with a 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 dismantling of American Aleksandar Kovacevic.

Jodar has quickly climbed the rankings this year, winning a clay-court title in Marrakesh, reaching the Barcelona Open semifinals and then the quarterfinals in both Madrid and Rome.

Fifth seed Ben Shelton, who has made at least the quarterfinals at each of the other three Slams, saw off Daniel Merida in straight sets.

Thanasi Kokkinakis, playing only his fourth tour-level tournament of the last two seasons after injuries, won an epic five-set battle over four hours and 18 minutes with Frenchman Terence Atmane, who crumbled from 5-2 up in the decider.

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