Age and Sports

I am not much of a tennis fan but I do have a working knowledge of who the best players are of when the different tournaments are held and who wins them. During the last years it has been mostly a thing between Nadal and Federer and then Djokovic and with women it has mostly been Serena Williams. These guys are the ones who have nearly won everything during this last decade.

But as everything time is taking its toll, Serena Williams did get to the Wimbledon final but was easily beaten by a much younger woman, and Federer was also beaten by a better Djokovic. This is only natural age slows everyone down no matter how good he or she is. And it has proven to be so in tennis with these superstars, they have aged and while once considered nearly invincible they are no longer so.

I think I would have stopped playing long before this, Nadal, Federer and Williams have done things few people have ever done, they have as much money as they will ever need, why keep on doing something until you have to retire after having to concede you no longer have it in you?

This happens in all sports, in football for example you have Ronaldo he is going on 35, Messi going on 33, these guys have won all they can win, well Messi not that much with Argentina but by now I think he won't be winning anything with them, why not retire while you are at the top, before people see you going downhill? And then we have Pacquiao, a great boxer if there ever was one, but in boxing age shows itself even more and apart from that it is dangerous, Pacman is a very rich man beloved by his country men and by a lot of people the world over why risk himself? It isn't the money that makes them continue, I wonder if it is just ego?

Perhaps it is because I never had the opportunity and if I had had it I would think differently, but if I were paid say $5,000,000 a year to play football, or an equivalent amount in any other sport I am sure I would play for a few years and retire with enough to live a money worries free life for as long as I live.