Swiss who won 20 grand slam titles combined balletic grace with accuracy, power, shot selection and competitive will
Time and simple human wear-and-tear told us Roger Federer had to stop playing professional tennis at some point. Here is a man who was winning grand slam tournaments before the iPhone was invented, while Tony Blair still a very popular prime minister, and who first won Wimbledon a month before Carlos Alvarez was born.
And yet the news Federer intends to retire now at the ludicrously advanced age of 41 still feels like a shock, an oversight, a rumour that got out of hand. Is everyone really sure about this?