40-year-old Wawrinka is about to return to the ATP top 100, becoming the oldest player on the ranking list.

The 2026 season is the last one in Stan Wawrinka’s career, but he is not stepping away silently. With impressive results at the start of the year, he is set to rejoin the PIF ATP top 100 on Monday, currently sitting at 98th place, his first top 100 appearance since July 2024.

In January this year, 40-year-old Wawrinka revived his peak form at the Australian Open, becoming the oldest man to reach the third round in Melbourne Park since Ken Rosewall in 1978. He defeated Laslo Djere and then triumphed in five sets against French player Arthur Rinderknech.

Back on the European circuit, Wawrinka secured main draw wins this month in Montpellier and Rotterdam. On Wednesday at the ATP 500 Rotterdam tournament, his match against 17-year-old rising star Ties Bougard marked the second largest age gap in ATP Tour and Grand Slam history—only behind the 2011 match where Dominic Thiem defeated Thomas Muster—Wawrinka and Bougard differ in age by 23 years and 3 months.

Now 40 years old, Wawrinka will turn 41 in March, and with more than a two-year age lead over the second oldest player, he will become the oldest competitor in the ATP top 100.

38-year-old Novak Djokovic is ranked third; Adrian Mannarino, Marin Čilić, and Roberto Bautista Agut are all 37 and remain solidly within the top 100. The last player over 40 to be ranked in the ATP top 100 was Roger Federer, who was 97th in June 2022.

In January 2014, Wawrinka won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, the first of his three major championships, and subsequently reached his career-high ranking of No. 3 in the ATP rankings.

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