Coming from behind to defeat France's number one player, Wawrinka matches Nadal's record

The year 2026 will be Stan Wawrinka's last professional season, and he began it in a truly remarkable way.

Stan Wawrinka’s farewell tour in professional tennis began spectacularly as the Swiss player came from behind to beat Arthur Rinderknech at the 2026 United Cup, which took place yesterday, January 3, Vietnamese time.

Previously, Wawrinka confirmed that 2026 would be the final season of his career that has spanned over two decades. At 40 years old, the three-time Grand Slam champion still demonstrates remarkable fighting spirit and resilience.

In the opening match, Wawrinka lost the first set to Rinderknech, but his experience and toughness helped him turn the game around. Two consecutive wins in tense tie-breaks secured the overall victory for "Stan The Man".

"It was a tough match. It's fantastic to be here for the first time and receive such enthusiastic support,"Wawrinka said. The Swiss player also expressed his happiness at playing in Perth for the first time after 20 years on the Tour.

This win also allowed Wawrinka to achieve a special milestone: he has recorded at least one ATP Tour match victory in 23 different seasons. This achievement places the Swiss player among the elite in men's tennis history, on par with Rafael Nadal, who also achieved a streak of 23 winning seasons.

Currently, only three players rank above Wawrinka in this statistic. Roger Federer and Richard Gasquet each have wins in 24 seasons, while American legend Jimmy Connors leads with 25 seasons.

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic is likely to soon join the group with 24 winning seasonsas he already has 23 seasons with victories and is expected to return to compete at the Adelaide Open.