To mark the end of another thrilling season, ATPTour.com is unveiling our annual ‘Best Of’ series, which will reflect on the most intriguing rivalries, matches, comebacks, upsets and more. Diego Schwartzman and Fernando Verdasco lead Part 1 of our ‘Best Of’ retirements story. Richard Gasquet and Fabio Fognini will feature in Part 2.
Diego Schwartzman
Schwartzman will be remembered on Tour, as well as for his achievements, for being a player who set the bar for those looking to push themselves past whatever their own personal limitations may be, with his discipline, passion and a born ability to compete.
Despite only being 5’7” and being told as a teenager that his height would hold him back, the Argentine went on to reach a career-high No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings, lifting four ATP Tour trophies.
“I really like when people say to me, ‘You were a fighter, but you were also a very good tennis player’,” Schwartzman reflected in a first-person essay on his career. “Just being a fighter, you are not going to be at the top of the sport. You need to play good tennis. You need to have a good forehand, a good serve and good movement. Just being a fighter does not get you to the top.
“I was there because I was good at this sport. Nobody gave me a gift. I earned this. When I was young, I didn’t expect to achieve what I did. But during my career, I belonged.”
Schwartzman played 36 consecutive Grand Slams starting at Roland Garros in 2014 and was in 52 consecutive main draws at ATP Masters 1000 events, for more than seven years. His best major result came on the clay in Paris, where he reached the semi-finals in 2020. The 33-year-old ended his career on home soil at the ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires in February.
Fernando Verdasco
After competing in his final singles match in 2023, Fernando Verdasco returned to court one final time in February in Doha, where he teamed with Novak Djokovic in doubles.
In a storied career spanning more than 20 years, the Spaniard won seven ATP Tour singles titles, lifting trophies on home soil in Valencia (2004) and Barcelona (2010. Verdasco peaked at No. 7 in the PIF ATP Rankings and amassed more than 500 tour-level wins (559) in an impressive display of longevity. Verdasco also helped his country to three Davis Cup titles (2008, 2009 and 2011) and played a leading role in the first of those crowns.
“The biggest [memory] is the Davis Cup for my country, which I won three times,” Verdasco said. “Of these three, the most special one is the one in Argentina, when I won the fourth point of the finals against Acasuso, and I gave my country the victory.”
A man for the big occasion, Verdasco’s run to the semi-finals at the 2009 Australian Open has gone down in history. The lefty beat Radek Stepanek, Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route to the last four before he battled for five hours and 14 minutes against Rafael Nadal in one of the greatest matches in history.
Verdasco also excelled in doubles, the discipline in which he brought his career to an end, alongside Djokovic in Doha. He claimed 8 doubles titles, including the 2013 Nitto ATP Finals alongside David Marrero, and climbed as high as No. 8 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings.
Christopher Eubanks
The American made headlines worldwide in 2023 when he soared to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon with his brand of ‘big-man tennis’. Fresh off winning his first and only ATP Tour title in Mallorca in June, Eubanks upset Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to the last eight in London. However, he struggled to match that level in the past two years and called time on his career in November.
“If you had told this little boy from the Southside of Atlanta that he would’ve accomplished all that he did, he wouldn’t believe you,” Eubanks wrote on social media. “2 Time ACC Player of the Year? Yeah right. Wimbledon Quarter-finalist? No chance. An Olympian? Unfathomable. I was given opportunity to travel around the world and form incredible relationships all while fulfilling a lifelong dream of playing professional tennis. I can’t put into words how blessed I have been. Is this absolutely the end?! Tough to say for certain but if it is, WHOOPTY DOO!!! It’s been an incredible ride.”
Eubanks made his tour-level debut in Atlanta in 2015 and reached a career-high No. 29 in the PIF ATP Rankings in 2023.
Nicolas Mahut
Across 25 years on the ATP Tour, Nicolas Mahut crafted a career that any player would envy.
The Frenchman captured 37 tour-level doubles titles, including two Nitto ATP Finals crowns and five major titles with longtime partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert. He ascended to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings and was a Davis Cup champion for France.
In singles, he won four titles but is best remembered for his record-breaking 2010 Wimbledon epic against John Isner, which stretched over three days and lasted 11 hours and five minutes. The American defeated Mahut 70-68 in the fifth-set.
“I found a way to be associated, for eternity, with Wimbledon, which for me is the greatest [tournament] in the world,” Mahut, who won Wimbledon in 2016, said to ATPTour.com in October. “When I went this year with my son, walking through the aisles, he saw his name after all, because it’s also his. It gives me a little pride and ultimately there’s nothing more beautiful for me.”
Denis Kudla
Sixteen years after turning professional at age 16, Denis Kudla ended his career surrounded by his countrymen and women at the United Cup in January. The 33-year-old helped guide the United States to victory at the mixed teams event, joining forces with Desirae Krawczyk to earn a win against the Czech Republic.
“It was super emotional last night. I would say I definitely cried multiple times. I’m not a crying person. I didn’t expect emotions to take over. I thought that match was just to get on court and just participate and play,” Kudla said after partnering with Desirae Krawczyk to a victory. “But then it just turned into a special moment. I didn’t think I was going to retire in a stadium, a pretty full stadium too, and representing the country, which means everything to me.”
The Kyiv-born Kudla climbed to a career-high No. 53 in the PIF ATP Rankings and played all the top players on the world’s biggest stages. The nine-time ATP Challenger Tour champion faced Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and more.
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Vasek Pospisil
Pospisil brought his career to a close on home soil at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Toronto in July, 12 years on from when he made his breakthrough semi-final run at the same tournament.
“It’s just [been] an incredible journey. I’m so grateful, honestly, [for] the career I’ve had, the opportunities the sport has given me, the people I’ve met along the way that are friends for life,” Pospisil said during a ceremony after the match in Toronto. “Coming from a small town in B.C., it felt like a bit of a pipe dream back then and it just felt like a completely different world. One thing leads to another and you start improving and playing some small tournaments, bigger tournaments and suddenly you’re here. It’s easy to lose perspective sometimes that this is truly a dream come true for me.”
Pospisil reached a career-high No. 25 in singles and No. 4 in doubles. He won Wimbledon in 2014 with Jack Sock, lifting seven ATP Tour doubles trophies overall.
Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Surrounded by his family and his home fans, Albert Ramos-Vinolas ended his dazzling career after losing to Great Britain’s Jan Choinski 6-4, 7-5 in the quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Valencia in October.
The Spaniard, who turned pro in 2007, hung his racquet up with four ATP Tour titles under his belt from Bastad 2016, Gstaad 2019, Estoril 2021 and Cordoba 2022, as well as eight further finals, including one at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in 2017. It was at that tournament that he claimed the biggest scalp of his career; that of then-World No. 1 Andy Murray in the last 16.
Victories like those helped the lefty climb into the Top 20, and he peaked in the PIF ATP Rankings at No. 17 in 2017.
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