To mark the end of another exciting season, ATPTour.com unveils 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’ retirement story. Richard Gasquet and Fabio Fognini will appear in part 2.
Diego Schwartzman
Schwartzman will be remembered on Tour, but also for his achievements, for being a player who raised the bar for those looking to push themselves beyond their own personal limitations, with his discipline, passion and a born ability to compete. Despite being just 6ft tall and told as a teenager that his height would hold him back, the Argentine reached a career-high No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings, lifting four ATP Tour trophies.
“I really like it 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 about his career. “Just being a fighter doesn’t get you to the top of the sport. You have to play good tennis. You have to have a good forehand, a good serve and good moves. Just being a fighter doesn’t get you to the top.”
“I was there because I was good at this sport. No one 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 was part of it.”
Schwartzman has played 36 consecutive Grand Slams, starting at Roland Garros in 2014, and has competed in 52 consecutive main draws at ATP Masters 1000 events for over seven years. His best major result came on 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 last singles match in 2023, Fernando Verdasco returned to the court for the final time in Doha in February, partnering Novak Djokovic in doubles.
In a storied career spanning more than two decades, 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 racked up 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 have won three times,” said Verdasco. “Of these three, the most special is the one in Argentina, when I won the fourth point of the final against Acasuso and gave my country 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 left-hander defeated Radek Stepanek, Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on his way to the last four before battling Rafael Nadal for five hours and 14 minutes in one of the biggest matches in history.
Verdasco also excelled in doubles, the discipline with which he ended his career alongside Djokovic in Doha. He claimed eight doubles titles, including the 2013 Nitto ATP Finals alongside David Marrero, and rose as high as No. 8 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings.
Christopher Eubanks
The American made global headlines in 2023 when he shot to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon with his brand of ‘big-man tennis’. Fresh from 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 ended his career in November.
“If you told this little boy from the south side of Atlanta that he would have accomplished everything he did, he wouldn’t believe you,” Eubanks wrote on social media. “2-time ACC Player of the Year? Yep. Wimbledon quarterfinalist? Not a chance. An Olympian? Unfathomable. I had the opportunity to travel the world and build incredible relationships while fulfilling a lifelong dream: playing professional tennis. I can’t put into words how blessed I have been. Is this definitely the end?! Hard to say for sure, but if so, 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.
Nicholas Mahut
During 25 years on the ATP Tour, Nicolas Mahut has built 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 rose to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings and was 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 spanned three days and lasted 11 hours and five minutes. The American defeated Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set.
“I have found a way to be associated with Wimbledon forever, which is the best for me [tournament] in the world,” Mahut, who won Wimbledon in 2016, told ATPTour.com in October. “After all, when I was walking down the aisles with my son this year, he saw his name, because it is also his. It gives me a little pride and in the end there is nothing more beautiful for me.”
Denis Kudla
Sixteen years after turning professional at the age of 16, Denis Kudla ended his career surrounded by his compatriots at the United Cup in January. The 33-year-old helped the United States to victory at the mixed teams event, joining forces with Desirae Krawczyk to earn a victory against the Czech Republic.
“It was super emotional last night. I would say I definitely cried several times. I’m not a crying person. I didn’t expect emotions to get the better of me. I thought that game was just about getting on the court and just participating and playing,” Kudla said after teaming with Desirae Krawczyk to a victory. “But then it just became a special moment. I didn’t think I would retire in a stadium, a pretty full stadium at that, and represent the country, which means the world to me.”
Kyiv-born Kudla climbed to career No. 53 in the PIF ATP rankings, playing against 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 ended his career on home soil at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Toronto in July, 12 years after making his breakthrough semi-final appearance at the same tournament.
“It just is [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 who are lifelong friends,” Pospisil said at a post-match ceremony in Toronto. “Coming from a small town in BC, it felt like a dream at the time and it just felt like a completely different world. One thing leads to another and you start improving and play some small tournaments, bigger tournaments and suddenly here you are. It’s easy to lose perspective sometimes that this really is 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 and won a total of seven ATP Tour doubles trophies.
Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Surrounded by his family and his home fans, Albert Ramos-Vinolas ended his brilliant career after losing 6-4, 7-5 to Great Britain’s Jan Choinski in the quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Valencia in October.
The Spaniard, who turned professional in 2007, hung up his racket with four ATP Tour titles to his name 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. During that tournament he claimed the biggest scalp of his career; that of Andy Murray, then number 1 in the world, in the last 16.
Wins like these helped the southpaw climb into the Top 20, and he peaked in the PIF ATP Rankings at No. 17 in 2017.
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