US Open 2026: The Four Retirement Stories From Flushing Meadows

The US Open has a way of turning retirements into theater - a scoreboard loss dressed up as a career's final bow, the crowd roaring a name they know they won't hear called again. This year's tournament said goodbye to four players, and none of them left the same way.

Gael Monfils: A Birthday Party, Then a Farewell

Monfils turned 40 during his first-round match and celebrated with a win, swapping what could have been a retirement send-off for a birthday party instead. The actual farewell came a round later, when the former world No. 6 fell in straight sets to 20-year-old American Learner Tien in an electric atmosphere at Louis Armstrong Stadium - a fitting venue for a player whose court presence was as much performance as competition.

Monfils, known for literally dancing during matches, sounded grateful rather than mournful addressing the crowd afterward: "I just want to just tell you it's been an absolute honor to play all this year in front of you," adding that he'd tried to give fans "a great show," and that in return, "you guys give me great love."

Stan Wawrinka: Bowing Out a Decade After His Peak

Wawrinka's farewell carried its own symmetry - his final Grand Slam match arrived during the tenth anniversary of his 2016 US Open title, one of three majors he won across a career that also reached No. 3 in the world. At 41, he pushed Matteo Berrettini through two tight tiebreak sets before fading in the third.

What stood out wasn't the result but his composure afterward: "I think I did everything possible to be the best version of a tennis player I could," he said. "I always pushed myself all those years, trying to give everything on the court and off the court. With that, I'm quite at peace with myself. I know I couldn't do it more. I know I took all the opportunities I had."

Rajeev Ram: A Historic Partnership, and One Name Left Unspoken Until the End

At 42, Ram's exit came in the men's doubles semifinals, where he and longtime partner Joe Salisbury fell to Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz. The number worth sitting with: Ram and Salisbury are the only team in history to win three consecutive US Open doubles titles.

After a video montage of his 26-year career, Ram took the microphone in tears, thanking his coaches and family - before the moment that defined the tribute. "There's one special person that's not here today and that's my dad," he said. "So I hope I made you proud, Dad."

Sorana Cirstea: A Farewell Season That Became Her Best One

Cirstea's story ran in the opposite direction of a typical retirement tour. She announced last December that 2026 would be her final year - and then produced the best season of her career, climbing to a career-high No. 15 ranking and beating a world No. 1 for the first time ever, taking down Aryna Sabalenka in Rome.

Seeded 17th in New York, she won three straight-set matches before falling in the fourth round to eventual semifinalist Jessica Pegula, her best-ever US Open result. Her own explanation for the turnaround was almost accidental: "I have to say I'm in the best place I've ever been in my life, on and off the court," she said. "I don't know if maybe doing this announcement did something in my head. In my opinion, I'm still doing the same things. I'm still working the same. But maybe subconsciously something changed there - I relaxed."

**Four Exits, One Tradition**

What ties these four together isn't the manner of their goodbyes - a joyous send-off, a dignified defeat, a tearful tribute to an absent father, an unexpected career peak - but the stage itself. Flushing Meadows has built a quiet tradition out of these moments, turning a third-round loss or a doubles semifinal defeat into the last time a crowd gets to say a name out loud before it disappears from the draw sheet for good.