If you go up to a random person on the street and ask them to name a tennis player, more often than not, they'll name Roger Federer, the Swiss Maestro, the calmest player on the court, the man famous for nonchalantly pulling off trick shots while down in a match. Anyone who has watched a Federer match has been blessed. Unfortunately, his time is coming to an end.
Now luckily when I say his time is coming to an end, I don’t mean his life. At 34 years of age, he is quite young. And he’s not retiring either. The departure I’m referring to is his announcement to not participate in the 2016 French Open. This marks the first time that he will not participate in every Grand Slam Tournament in a calendar year. Essentially, in the past 16 years, he has participated in 61 of 61 possible tournaments. You may seem surprised. After all, I’m referencing an end to his career, all in response to his announcement that he will not participate in one tournament. But this is so much more than that; here's why.
Recently in a press conference, former world number one tennis player, Rafael Nadal, held a press conference in which he stated that, “no one can beat [Djokovic]” and that Federer should, “retire soon and follow [Nadal]." Nadal controls a major part of Federer’s brain, being his rival, and if Nadal chooses to retire, five years younger than Federer, that may put a major stressor on his mind, maybe causing him to make the decision to hang up the racket, and settle down.
The next obvious question is “What if Federer retired?” That leads me to bring up a big name mentioned earlier. Novak Djokovic, current world number one tennis player and Serbian superstar, would hold complete domination of tennis, a monopoly of the tournaments if you will. Djokovic has lost an astounding nine matches over the past two years, of which three have been to the Swiss Maestro himself. With Federer knocked out of the picture, Djokovic could cut his losses down by 33%, and win three more major tournaments, making him undoubtedly the best player of this decade.
Roger Federer is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, possibly the greatest, as well as one of the greatest athletes of all time. In the world of tennis, which requires such a diverse skillset, he has broken hundreds of records, including his most impressive; the most grand slams won. He has been a staple figure in tennis, representative of the sport, a good role model for kids and adults alike—just the ideal person. And when it comes time for him to end his career, he will be truly missed on the tennis tour. Hopefully that isn’t soon, but until then, we, as fans, as people of this world, need to give him the utmost respect and make sure that if he retires, he leaves the tour with a bang.