Good morning, dear reader,
Allow me to begin by revealing – we are just among ourselves here – an indiscretion: During these sporting weeks in the summer of 2024, an iron rule prevails in the Digili household – at least for Digili senior and Mama Digili, who are usually well informed across the board. When in doubt, the boy – the author of these lines – has explanations and explanations ready for this, that and, above all, the athletic events that are currently taking place before the eyes of the world.
The understandable thought: After all, the boy is a sports journalist, so he will be able to talk encyclopedically about the world of sport in its entirety. And as flattering as this unshakable trust placed in me at every major sporting event is, it regularly makes me doubt my suitability for what I believe to be the best job in the world when I am only able to give unsatisfactory answers to my dear parents’ questions about the correct execution of a Cossack turn in gymnastics or critical errors made by dressage riders and horses in the piaffe.
But I caught myself to have found a variety of answers to a question that has come up frequently these days – and in fact, none of them is wrong.
It is perhaps the most complex question, that arises in the life of an athlete: When is the right time to stop?
In the course of the European Football Championship and the Olympic Games Numerous German and international sports greats have finally retired. Starting with the German national football players Toni Kroos (read more here) and Thomas Müller (read more here) and the three-time tennis Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber to Kerber’s British tennis colleague Andy Murray or the gymnast Lukas Dauser: they all decided for themselves that that was it.
And more emotional farewells are ahead: It is possible that the tennis career of the great Rafael Nadal has also come to an end after his Olympic elimination in singles and doubles. Brazil’s women’s soccer team has given their captain and multiple world soccer player Marta, who was banned from the quarter- and semi-finals due to a red card, a final as a farewell match; the 38-year-old will play with the “Seleção” on Saturday against the USA for the gold medal in Paris.
But is a perfect ending even possible? Different angles offer different views.
Because of course football Germany would have liked that Kroos led the DFB team to the European Championship title as the crowning glory of his career, the last major trophy that the Greifswald native was not allowed to lift. In the end, however, it was all over in a dramatic quarter-final against eventual European champions Spain.
And of course it would have been a dream story, Kerber would have reached the final of the Olympic tennis tournament in Paris and secured the gold medal in her very last match, which she had narrowly missed in the final in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Tears in her eyes: Angelique Kerber saying goodbye to Court Philippe-Chatrier. (Source: IMAGO/Steffie Wunderl/imago-images-bilder)
There was no sign of dissatisfaction in either of them afterwards, on the contrary. “The time was good. It was great fun. I’m very happy. I didn’t think we could be so close so quickly,” Kroos explained in his typical matter-of-fact manner after the European Championship exit. And Kerber summed up on the Philippe-Chatrier court in Paris: “So now it’s over. And it’s kind of crazy. I’ve really achieved everything in my career that I dreamed of as a child.”
Everything and more Meanwhile, Kerber’s tennis colleague Novak Djoković has achieved this. The Serb is more lavishly decorated with titles than any other player in the history of this beautiful sport, and at the age of 37 he has climbed the last peak, which he had failed to reach in four previous attempts: In a high-class, memorable Olympic final a few days ago, the “Djoker” defeated the designated next tennis dominator, Carlos Alcaraz, who is 16 years younger than him.
So wouldn’t this be the perfect time to break up? Now that he has finally won everything? The supposedly perfect ending? After the final, Djoković did not even rule out another Olympic participation in 2028 when he will be 41 years old. “I want to play in Los Angeles, I enjoy playing for my country.”
Is it the euphoria that drives athletes? The innocent joy of sport, the desire to preserve this moment of peak performance for as long as possible? It’s a fine line.
Not all athletes in advanced sports age are ultimately in a physical condition like the health fanatic Djoković.
“I’m glad that I didn’t end up in a decline”said Djoković’s tennis companion, the equally great Roger Federer, this year in a remarkable interview at “GQ”. Federer only ended his career in 2022 at the age of 41. “Now I’m happy. It’s a completely different life.”
This thought of a “completely different life” is also troubling. What’s more, it can be scary. “I gave up my identity when I retired,” former Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg once explained. Rosberg won the world championship title in 2016 and then ended his career at just 31 years old. “Everything in my life revolved around racing. And then there was this addiction to recognition and success. To put all that back to zero was quite a shock.”
The high point and end of his career: Nico Rosberg celebrates his world championship title in the Mercedes box in 2016. (Source: imago sportfotodienst/imago-images-bilder)
The dangerous “addiction to recognition and success” but can also fatally cloud the view of one’s own performance capabilities. The long-standing national coach Joachim Löw was the national coach for so long that, in all the comfort of his office, he missed the moment for a dignified farewell several times. In the end, Löw was allowed to muddle along at the German Football Association, which was eternally grateful for the 2014 World Cup title, until 2021 and completely ruined two tournaments (the 2018 World Cup and the 2021 European Championship) before the man from the Black Forest resigned of his own accord. He had already permanently damaged his own monument, and not a few may have breathed a sigh of relief that a breath of fresh air could now move into the DFB team (which would then take until September 2023).
“It’s always difficult to find the right time to stop”Germany’s basketball great Dirk Nowitzki admitted this in February 2022 in Toni Kroos’ podcast “Einfach mal luppen”. Because: “You’re still having fun, your body is still halfway up and you’re still motivated.”
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