The unsettling feeling first came watching Roger Federer’s meek defeat by Tommy Robredo at the US Open in 2013.
Then the realisation – the Swiss looked a little ordinary.
Federer, who is calling time on his career at the age of 41, was never supposed to look ordinary.
Ordinary was for mere mortals, players who sweated and toiled, for whom a racket was the tool of their trade not an extension of themselves.
At his best, Federer’s feet never seemed to touch the court, manoeuvring him effortlessly into position to swat away an impossible winner with the merest flick of his wrist.
The Swiss hangs up his racket as not just one of the best but one of the most loved athletes of all time, a sporting god inspiring devotion in millions worldwide.
