Better of 2025
Schwartzman, Verdasco headline 2025 retirements
Eubanks, Mahut, Kudla additionally characteristic in Half 1
December 07, 2025
Getty Pictures
Diego Schwartzman retired in Buenos Aires this yr.
By Sam Jacot
To mark the top of one other thrilling season, ATPTour.com is unveiling our annual ‘Best Of’ series, which can mirror on probably the most intriguing rivalries, matches, comebacks, upsets and extra. Diego Schwartzman and Fernando Verdasco lead Half 1 of our ‘Greatest Of’ retirements story. Richard Gasquet and Fabio Fognini will characteristic in Half 2.
Diego Schwartzman
Schwartzman can be remembered on Tour, in addition to for his achievements, for being a participant who set the bar for these trying to push themselves previous no matter their very own private limitations could also be, together with his self-discipline, ardour and a born skill to compete.
Regardless of solely being 5’7” and being instructed as a youngster that his peak would maintain him again, the Argentine went on to succeed in a career-high No. 8 within the PIF ATP Rankings, lifting 4 ATP Tour trophies.
“I actually like when individuals say to me, ‘You have been a fighter, however you have been additionally an excellent tennis participant’,” Schwartzman mirrored in a first-person essay on his profession. “Simply being a fighter, you aren’t going to be on the high of the game. You might want to play good tennis. You might want to have forehand, serve and good motion. Simply being a fighter doesn’t get you to the highest.
“I used to be there as a result of I used to be good at this sport. No person gave me a present. I earned this. Once I was younger, I did not count on to realize what I did. However throughout my profession, I belonged.”
Schwartzman performed 36 consecutive Grand Slams beginning at Roland Garros in 2014 and was in 52 consecutive important attracts at ATP Masters 1000 occasions, for greater than seven years. His finest main consequence got here on the clay in Paris, the place he reached the semi-finals in 2020. The 33-year-old ended his profession on house soil on the ATP 250 occasion in Buenos Aires in February.
Fernando Verdasco
After competing in his closing singles match in 2023, Fernando Verdasco returned to courtroom one closing time in February in Doha, the place he teamed with Novak Djokovic in doubles.
In a storied profession spanning greater than 20 years, the Spaniard gained seven ATP Tour singles titles, lifting trophies on house soil in Valencia (2004) and Barcelona (2010. Verdasco peaked at No. 7 within the PIF ATP Rankings and amassed greater than 500 tour-level wins (559) in a formidable show of longevity. Verdasco additionally helped his nation to 3 Davis Cup titles (2008, 2009 and 2011) and performed a number one function within the first of these crowns.
“The largest [memory] is the Davis Cup for my nation, which I gained 3 times,” Verdasco mentioned. “Of those three, probably the most particular one is the one in Argentina, after I gained the fourth level of the finals towards Acasuso, and I gave my nation the victory.”
A person for the massive event, Verdasco’s run to the semi-finals on the 2009 Australian Open has gone down in historical past. The lefty beat Radek Stepanek, Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en path to the final 4 earlier than he battled for 5 hours and 14 minutes towards Rafael Nadal in one of many biggest matches in historical past.
Verdasco additionally excelled in doubles, the self-discipline wherein he introduced his profession to an finish, alongside Djokovic in Doha. He claimed 8 doubles titles, together with the 2013 Nitto ATP Finals alongside David Marrero, and climbed as excessive as No. 8 within the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings.
Christopher Eubanks
The American made headlines worldwide in 2023 when he soared to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon together with his model of ‘big-man tennis’. Contemporary off successful his first and solely ATP Tour title in Mallorca in June, Eubanks upset Stefanos Tsitsipas en path to the final eight in London. Nevertheless, he struggled to match that stage up to now two years and referred to as time on his profession in November.
“Should you had instructed this little boy from the Southside of Atlanta that he would’ve achieved all that he did, he wouldn’t consider you,” Eubanks wrote on social media. “2 Time ACC Participant of the 12 months? Yeah proper. Wimbledon Quarter-finalist? No likelihood. An Olympian? Unfathomable. I used to be given alternative to journey all over the world and type unimaginable relationships all whereas fulfilling a lifelong dream of enjoying skilled tennis. I can’t put into phrases how blessed I’ve been. Is this totally the top?! Powerful to say for sure however whether it is, WHOOPTY DOO!!! It’s been an unimaginable trip.”
Eubanks made his tour-level debut in Atlanta in 2015 and reached a career-high No. 29 within the PIF ATP Rankings in 2023.
Nicolas Mahut
Throughout 25 years on the ATP Tour, Nicolas Mahut crafted a profession that any participant would envy.
The Frenchman captured 37 tour-level doubles titles, together with two Nitto ATP Finals crowns and 5 main titles with longtime accomplice Pierre-Hugues Herbert. He ascended to No. 1 within the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings and was a Davis Cup champion for France.
In singles, he gained 4 titles however is finest remembered for his record-breaking 2010 Wimbledon epic towards John Isner, which stretched over three days and lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes. The American defeated Mahut 70-68 within the fifth-set.
“I discovered a option to be related, for eternity, with Wimbledon, which for me is the best [tournament] on the planet,” Mahut, who gained Wimbledon in 2016, mentioned to ATPTour.com in October. “Once I went this yr with my son, strolling by the aisles, he noticed his identify in any case, as a result of it’s additionally his. It provides me a bit satisfaction and in the end there’s nothing extra stunning for me.”
Denis Kudla
Sixteen years after turning skilled at age 16, Denis Kudla ended his profession surrounded by his countrymen and girls on the United Cup in January. The 33-year-old helped information america to victory on the combined groups occasion, becoming a member of forces with Desirae Krawczyk to earn a win towards the Czech Republic.
“It was tremendous emotional final evening. I’d say I undoubtedly cried a number of instances. I am not a crying individual. I did not count on feelings to take over. I believed that match was simply to get on courtroom and simply take part and play,” Kudla mentioned after partnering with Desirae Krawczyk to a victory. “However then it simply became a particular second. I did not suppose I used to be going to retire in a stadium, a fairly full stadium too, and representing the nation, which suggests every little thing to me.”
The Kyiv-born Kudla climbed to a career-high No. 53 within the PIF ATP Rankings and performed all the highest gamers on the world’s greatest phases. The nine-time ATP Challenger Tour champion confronted Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and extra.
Vasek Pospisil
Pospisil introduced his profession to an in depth on house soil on the ATP Masters 1000 occasion in Toronto in July, 12 years on from when he made his breakthrough semi-final run on the similar match.
“It is simply [been] an unimaginable journey. I am so grateful, truthfully, [for] the profession I’ve had, the alternatives the game has given me, the individuals I’ve met alongside the best way which might be pals for all times,” Pospisil mentioned throughout a ceremony after the match in Toronto. “Coming from a small city in B.C., it felt like a little bit of a pipe dream again then and it simply felt like a very completely different world. One factor results in one other and also you begin enhancing and enjoying some small tournaments, greater tournaments and all of a sudden you are right here. It is simple to lose perspective typically that that is actually a dream come true for me.”
Pospisil reached a career-high No. 25 in singles and No. 4 in doubles. He gained Wimbledon in 2014 with Jack Sock, lifting seven ATP Tour doubles trophies total.
Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Surrounded by his household and his house followers, Albert Ramos-Vinolas ended his dazzling profession after dropping to Nice Britain’s Jan Choinski 6-4, 7-5 within the quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger Tour occasion in Valencia in October.
The Spaniard, who turned professional in 2007, hung his racquet up with 4 ATP Tour titles beneath his belt from Bastad 2016, Gstaad 2019, Estoril 2021 and Cordoba 2022, in addition to eight additional finals, together with one on the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in 2017. It was at that match that he claimed the largest scalp of his profession; that of then-World No. 1 Andy Murray within the final 16.
Victories like these helped the lefty climb into the Prime 20, and he peaked within the PIF ATP Rankings at No. 17 in 2017.
