After starting the season on a high, Carlos Alcaraz‘s fortunes changed drastically in April. He suffered a serious wrist injury at the Barcelona Open and was sidelined for over four months as a result. It was quite a tough time for him, as not only did he lose ground to Jannik Sinner in the rankings, but he also missed both the French Open and Wimbledon. During this time, Stan Wawrinka was one of the players who regularly asked Alcaraz about his health, and the Spaniard hasn’t forgotten the gesture.

“Stan (Wawrinka) is some of those players who won Grand Slams, faced the best three, the big three or the big four and win them all,” he told Tennis TV. “And I was super happy to that I was able to watch him when I was growing up. Once I got to the Tour, to be able to practice with him, to share the locker. When I was injured this year, he was one of the players who were asking me how I was feeling, how I was going on. It meant a lot to me. So, Stan is a great person, great player, wish him all the best in the future, but thank you for the career and everything he’s done for tennis.”

This heartfelt message comes after Wawrinka recently played the final competitive match of his career in front of his home crowd in Basel. He took on Jiri Lehecka in the opening round of the Swiss Indoors, but was knocked out 7-5, 7-6. This isn’t the first time that Alcaraz has paid a tribute to Wawrinka this year. He appeared in a special video that was made to celebrate Wawrinka’s career after he played his final match at the French Open, where he was defeated 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 by Jesper De Jong.

“Stan the Man, I’m really grateful for everything you have done for this sport. And I’m just happy to have shared the locker room, the practice courts, and the tournaments with you and learn from you very closely. So, thank you very much, and I wish you all the best in your new chapter,” Alcaraz said in the video.

The 41-year-old brought down the curtain on his career after notching 590 tour-level victories, winning three Grand Slams and reaching No. 3 in the rankings. He will always be regarded as one of the best players of his generation, who proved to be a big challenge for the Big Three, i.e., Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer.

Though Wawrinka wasn’t able to clinch any title in his final year on the Tour and finished with a win-loss record of 8-18, he admitted to having no regrets. He is simply happy to have played for over 20 years at the highest level.

“It’s not up to me. There are different visions of me as a player over the past 20 years,” Wawrinka told ATPTour.com. “For me, all I wanted in my career was to give everything, to have no regrets, to always fight, to always give 100 per cent in every match — out of respect for myself, for the opponent, for the tournament, for the fans, for everybody. That was always the most important thing for more than 20 years, and that’s the only way you can leave the sport: without any regrets.”

Like Wawrinka, Alcaraz was also having a year to forget until the US Open. While he did clinch the Australian Open title, the wrist injury appeared to have pretty much derailed his season. But the World No. 3 has made a strong comeback and has the opportunity to end the season on a high.

Carlos Alcaraz has made a solid return after his long injury layoff

Alcaraz began by reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open, where he was defeated by Ben Shelton in a five-set marathon. He then played a key role in Team Europe’s triumph at the Laver Cup. Alcaraz followed this up with a triumphant campaign at the Japan Open. He defeated players like Denis Shapovalov, Jaume Munar and Jiri Lehecka on his way to the title.

Though the Shanghai Masters didn’t go as planned and he got eliminated in the Round of 32 by Zizou Bergs, the Spaniard made a solid start to the Vienna Open. He defeated Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-6 in the opening round and will be taking on Nikoloz Basilashvili in the Round of 16.

Despite missing months of action, Alcaraz has already secured a place in the ATP Finals. With Jannik Sinner missing the year-end tournament due to injury, the World No. 3 will be one of the biggest contenders for the title. But his path certainly won’t be easy, as the event will only consist of eight of the best-performing players of the season.