Stan Wawrinka’s glittering career officially came to an end on Tuesday in front of a home crowd at the Basel Open.

Wawrinka fell to Jiri Lehecka in the opening round of the ATP 500 event, falling in straight sets to the Czech star, 7-5, 7-6. The Swiss recorded one of the greatest careers of his generation, clinching three Grand Slam titles in arguably the most competitive era of all time, dominated by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

As well as his success at majors, Wawrinka was an ATP Masters 1000 champion, a Davis Cup winner and an Olympic gold medalist in doubles.

Despite winning as many Grand Slam titles as Andy Murray, Wawrinka was never considered to be on par with the Scot, who was grouped with Federer, Nadal and Djokovic in the ‘big four’. There was never a ‘big five’ with Wawrinka added, which is possibly due to the fact that Wawrinka never secured world number one status.

While Murray rose to the top spot in the ATP rankings back in 2016, Wawrinka’s career-high is third in the world, which he achieved in 2014 after beating Nadal in the Australian Open final to capture his first Grand Slam title. Wawrinka spent a large portion of the 2010s inside the top five, but never managed to reach the very top.

After winning his third and final major in 2016 at the US Open by beating Djokovic, Wawrinka was asked if becoming the world number one is still a goal for him. His answer was a swift ‘no’.

Why do you think Stan Wawrinka was never considered to be on the same level as Andy Murray?

Probed for a longer answer, Wawrinka expanded: “That question come every time I won a Grand Slam. But my best ranking was No. 3 in the world. It’s simple. I’m way too far to even think about being number one.

“Look, Novak is number one. He’s winning two or three Grand Slams a year. He’s winning five Masters 1000s minimum. He’s winning everything or being in the final. I’m winning four tournaments a year. I’m happy with that. I’m really happy with that. Four tournaments, one Grand Slam. It’s amazing. It’s huge. It’s big. But I’m way too far to be number one.”

After Wawrinka had won the US Open that year, he was still miles behind Djokovic in the rankings, with the Serb holding 14,040 ATP points compared to his tally of 6,260.

Stan Wawrinka’s response when asked about Career Grand Slam

Wawrinka’s US Open triumph in 2016 meant he only needed the Wimbledon title to complete the Career Grand Slam; the name given to the feat of winning all four Grand Slam titles at least once. Only five players in the Open Era had won the Career Grand Slam at that point: Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. Carlos Alcaraz ultimately added himself to that list earlier this year.

Asked about winning Wimbledon to complete the feat, Wawrinka said in 2016: “It’s too far. Too far to think about Wimbledon. I think I can play my best tennis on grass also, but so far I didn’t pass the quarterfinals. There is way better tennis player than me on grass.

“I’m trying. I’m trying every year to improve. I’m trying every year to find solution. This year I had someone in my team to help me to understand a little bit better the game, but I didn’t play my best tennis yet there. Hopefully it will come.”

Wawrinka’s best result at Wimbledon in his career was a quarterfinal finish, which he managed in 2014 and 2015.