Retirement is a word that every sportsperson dreads. When the sportsperson enters the early 30s, the word retirement starts to come in the mind a lot more than ever before. It is just an awareness that though the body is still good to play a few years, there are also younger, eager players ready to pounce and take your spot. By this stage of a sportsperson’s career, the performances have been such that the pressure of expectation also grows. And with that pressure sometimes the sheer enjoyment of playing one’s favourite sport diminishes considerably. And when that happens, that is perhaps the first sign that the sport is getting on top of the person. As the years go on, the sportsperson can carry on but the pressure of performance increases in correlation with the diminishing of the fun element of playing sport. 

First-rate fitness regime

Roger Federer had an unbelievable career lasting almost a quarter of a century. That is a very long, long time to be on the top of the game. It was not just the supreme talent, but his superb fitness that allowed him to carry on for so long. Once that fitness slipped with surgeries to the different parts of the body, the fun level also decreased. He was now being beaten by players he would have toyed with maybe just half a dozen years earlier and that is never a pleasurable feeling. Sportspersons are very proud of their performances once they reach the peak and any dip in those performances means it is time to look at the ‘R’ word. Every sportsperson wants to quit the game when people will say ‘why’ rather than ‘why not’.  Sadly, not too many recognise what that time is and linger for just that wee bit longer. That wee bit longer generally leaves memories with the followers of a top sportsperson struggling to ply his trade. That said, Federer will be remembered for posterity for not only his elegant game, but also for the way he conducted himself on and off the court. The rich tributes that he has received from all across the sporting globe is testament of the impact and imprint that he has left on the sporting world.