Stan Wawrinka was born in Lausanne on 28 March 1985 and grew up on the Ferme du Château, a farm near the city run by his mother and her husband. When he was about 11 his coach switched his backhand from two hands to one, and that one-handed backhand, hit with enormous power, became the most admired shot of his career. He won the French Open boys' title in 2003 and was coached by Dimitri Zavialoff from 2002 to 2010.
With Roger Federer he won the men's doubles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His real breakthrough came after he began working with the Swede Magnus Norman in 2013. In January 2014 he beat Rafael Nadal in four sets in the Australian Open final for his first major title and on 27 January rose to world No. 3, his career high. That April he beat Federer in the Monte-Carlo final for his only Masters 1000 title, and he helped Switzerland win the Davis Cup for the first time, partnering Federer.
He kept his best tennis for the biggest stages. In the 2015 French Open final he beat Novak Djokovic in four sets, and in the 2016 US Open final he beat Djokovic again, also in four. He reached a fourth major final at Roland Garros in 2017, losing to Nadal. He qualified for the ATP Finals four years running, from 2013 to 2016, and reached the semifinals in his first three appearances.
Injuries then slowed him. He had knee surgery in August 2017 and missed the rest of that season, and in 2021 an operation on his left foot cost him most of the year. He kept playing into his forties, known to fans as "Stan the Man" and for answering their support by making a heart with his hands. After announcing that 2026 would be his last season, he played his final match on 27 October 2026 at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, aged 41, losing to Jiří Lehečka. He won 16 singles titles, three of them majors, and 590 tour-level matches.