How Will We Remember Roger Federer?
Tennis is undergoing a dramatic change because even godlike players are proving to be human.
In the end, it was the knee.
Roger Federer has played more than 1,500 matches in 24 years, and has never quit in the middle of one for injury, illness, exhaustion, burnout, or apathy. His most formidable on-court opponents, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who have surpassed him in Grand Slam count and are still battling it out for statistical GOAT status, cannot say the same. Nadal has retired (ended play) mid-match nine times, Djokovic thirteen. Federer’s joints––the ones that bore the stress of his game, birthed the transcendent nature of his movement––are the same ones finally forcing him to relent. His body simply can’t take it anymore, and there is
