Breaking new ground: Stan Wawrinka breaks Roger Federer record on home soil

Stan Wawrinka continues to break new ground heading towards his 40th birthday with no signs of letting up or the dreaded retirement word. The Swiss ace is a three-time Major winner and defeated Adrian Mannarino in the first round of Swiss Indoors Basel.

By doing so Wawrinka who turned 39 this year became the oldest man to win a match at the ATP 500 event. He took this mantle from a familiar face in Roger Federer who held the record before. His last appearance at the tournament came in 2019, when he won the title for a record tenth time. Back then, he defeated Alex de Minaur in the final.

Wawrinka this time started his campaign against Adrian Mannarino. A player who he had a perfect 3-0 Head to Head edge over Wawrinka coming into the match. However Wawrinka snapped this streak in some style winning in front of a home crowd 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

He also performed at the recent Stockholm Open losing to eventual champion Tommy Paul. His most notable scalp was that of Andrey Rublev. It was his first top 10 win since the Cincinnati Open.

But in the biggest indicator that he is not stopping yet, he said that his goal is to stop playing with wildcards. "My goal is not to play forever with wildcards. I really need a good ranking. The goal is to push myself to the maximum in order to play a whole year again. But I want to enjoy every moment. Because if I stop, there's no going back, I'm aware of that," Wawrinka said.