Brad Gilbert has revealed he missed the opportunity to coach Stan Wawrinka as he paid tribute to the Swiss legend after his retirement from tennis.
Wawrinka brought the curtain down on his career after losing 7-5, 7-6(2) to Jiri Lehecka in the first round of the 2026 Swiss Indoors in Basel on Tuesday night.
The 41-year-old, who turned pro in 2002, reached a career-high ranking of world No 3 and won 16 singles titles — including three Grand Slams.
Gilbert, a former world No 4 who went on to become a legendary coach, hailed what Wawrinka accomplished and admitted he made a mistake by not working with the Swiss.
“Just watched Stan Wawrinka play his last match in Basel against Lehecka,” Gilbert said in a video on X/Twitter.
“What a great career, just such an unbelievable ball striker, beautiful backhand. Just want to say congrats to the Stanimal. We’ll miss you.
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“And probably one of the guys that turned around his career at about 25, 26, more than anybody I’ve ever seen. And Magnus Norman did an incredible job when they hooked up together.
“He basically had never been top 15, survived a big knee injury early in his 20s. To win three Grand Slams, beat the No 1 player in the world in all Grand Slam finals… I mean, just a first ballot Hall of Famer, a class act, and just a great champion.
“And probably one of my dummy moves ever… that year before Norman took over, the agent asked me about coaching him, and I had started working with Sam Querrey, and I was maybe going to see if I could do both of them, but definitely a misplay.
“But full credit to Magnus Norman for doing an amazing job. They stayed together for the rest of their career, and just an incredible, class player, great career.
“And I feel like Stanimal just willed himself to being the player that he became. Congrats buddy. Tennis is lesser for seeing you retire.”
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