Stan Wawrinka says goodbye to Rome after injury stops final qualification push

Stan Wawrinka was forced to retire due to injury after the significant physical effort he made in the Rome Open qualifiers. The three-time Grand Slam champion had returned to winning ways on clay in the first round of qualifying, after defeating local player Stefano Travaglia, coming within one step of the main draw.

However, the 41-year-old Swiss player was unable to take the court on Tuesday to fight for his place in the main draw. Just 10 minutes before his match against former top-10 player Pablo Carreño Busta, the Swiss player withdrew from the tournament, ending his last participation at the Rome Open.

The former world No. 3 is in the final year of his career and is taking his last steps on the ATP Tour. Currently ranked No. 118 in the live rankings, the Swiss player hopes to collect enough wins during the remainder of the season to allow him to finish his career inside the top 100 – as he has previously stated.

He has already announced that his final professional tournament will be the Swiss Indoors in October in Basel, where the home organisation will prepare a major farewell for the three-time Grand Slam champion. Wawrinka will now focus on his upcoming clay-court tournaments as he prepares for Roland Garros.

Wawrinka left a positive impression in his final appearance at the Foro Italico, although it was not enough to return to the main draw. His record in Rome stands at 25-17 (60%), making it one of the Masters 1000 tournaments where he has performed best – only bettered in terms of wins by Indian Wells (27-13).

Wawrinka’s best result in Rome is the final reached back in 2008, when at 23 years old he reached his first Masters 1000 final, defeating a series of major names along the way: Marat Safin, Andy Murray, Juan Carlos Ferrero, James Blake and Andy Roddick were among his victims, although he eventually lost the final to Novak Djokovic.

With no official confirmation of injury or physical issues, everything suggests that the fatigue from the 2 hours and 18 minutes played in the first round of qualifying ultimately took its toll on the Swiss player. Wawrinka was 4-6, 1-3, 15-40 down against Travaglia but managed to recover impressively to turn the match around, defeating the local player 4-6, 7-6, 6-1.

Wawrinka’s calendar for upcoming clay-swing events is already defined, and he will need to wait a week before being seen in action again, as he is set to compete in the Bordeaux Challenger, followed by the Geneva Challenger as preparation tournaments. He will close the clay swing with a final appearance at Roland Garros, where he won the title in 2015 and reached the final in 2017.

Wawrinka’s withdrawal from qualifying directly opened a spot in the main draw for Spanish player Pablo Carreño Busta – a player who has dealt with injuries in recent seasons but continues to remain competitive on tour at 34 years of age.

The Spaniard secured his place in the main draw against a complicated opponent such as Alejandro Tabilo in the first round. The Chilean arrives after winning the Aix-en-Provence Challenger last week, defeating Zizou Bergs in the final on Sunday. Tabilo’s best Masters 1000 result came during his 2024 Rome campaign, where he defeated players such as Novak Djokovic and Karen Khachanov before being beaten by Alexander Zverev – the eventual champion of the tournament.

Other players who successfully came through qualifying and secured their place in the main draw include Cristian Garin, Dino Prizmic, Nikoloz Basilashvili, Jacob Fearnley, as well as local players Pablo Llamas Ruiz and Daniel Mérida.