Roger Federer’s desire to return from injury a mark of what has made him a great champion

In Indian cricket folklore, there is legend answering to the name of Vijay Merchant, who retired at the age of 41 after scoring a 154 in his final Test innings, his top score in international cricket, against the visiting England in 1951.

Naturally, people wondered why he was calling it quits when he could still bat like he did. His reply: When a player retires “people should ask why, instead of why not”.

It certainly sounds noble, but is far too utopian. Sachin Tendulkar, for example, would have been forced into retirement long before his 200th Test if he were to pay heed to such lofty ideals, and MS Dhoni would have been a long-retired cricketer as well by now.

In tennis, Roger Federer would have probably bid adieu in 2013, or even earlier after winning the French Open in 2009.

Rafael Nadal would have switched to golf by now and Serena Williams would have finished her career with probably half of the grand slam titles she holds now.

More tennis:

• Graham Caygill on Roger Federer: Injury absence a clear sign of decline but his resilience is a lesson to next generation

• Ahmed Rizvi on Olympic withdrawals: Winning Olympic gold isn't the zenith for likes of Federer and Nadal, winning majors is

• Rafael Nadal injury latest: Nadal still a doubt for Rio 2016: 'I will train a few days and decide what is best'

But thankfully, they do not hold such idealistic notions, for public opinion can be so fickle, an “extremely mutable thing” as Henrik Ibsen wrote in An Enemy of the People.

In more recent times American TV host Jon Stewart described public opinion best when he said: “You have to remember one thing about the will of the people: it wasn’t that long ago that we were swept away by the Macarena.”

In the world of tennis over the past week, since Federer’s announcement that he is bringing the curtains down on an injury-ridden 2016, our equivalent of the Macarena have been essays under headlines with words like “hanging on too long” or prophetic innuendos like “is this the end?” and “an uncertain future lies ahead”.

Tell me, which future is certain? An uncertain future did lie ahead of Nadal as well, when he returned to the circuit following an enforced nine-month break owing to tendinitis in his knee.

Would the legend of Nadal be complete without his many battles against injuries? Remember, he was still a teenager when the Spaniard was told by doctors he might not be able to walk again, let alone play tennis.

Who would have thought Williams would fight off hematoma and pulmonary embolism, a life-threatening condition, to add nine grand slams, and counting, to her collection?

It would have been so easy for them to walk away, but as Serena’s elder sister Venus said recently: “Retiring is the easy way out. I don’t have time for easy.”

Venus, of course, speaks for every champion, in the world of sport and beyond. And there have been few bigger champions than Federer in recent times, so why do we expect him to take the easy route? Why this desire to see him leave, “when he is still on a high”?

Ah, but he has nothing left to prove, claim those who believe his “struggles” like the rest of the mortals in the reign of Novak Djokovic could smear his legacy.

Really? Did Federer start playing tennis because he had to prove something to someone? Did Sir Edmund Hillary retire from climbing after scaling Mount Everest in 1953?

Federer will turn 35 in a week and no man that age has reached a grand slam final in 40 years.

True, but Ken Rosewall did win the 1972 Australian Open two months after celebrating his 37th birthday.

No woman older than 33 years and eight months (the age of Martina Navratilova when she won the 1990 Wimbledon title) had ever won a grand slam singles crown, but Serena has now won two.

So, who knows what this "uncertain future" holds. True, Federer has not won a grand slam since Wimbledon 2012, but the Swiss, as he said in an interview with The Guardian last month, does not care "if I don't win so much anymore. For me that is irrelevant".

Why? Because, in his own words: “I love tennis in such a big way that I don’t care”.

That love was obvious even in the announcement Federer made last week, as he emphasised his desire to continue playing “for another few years”.

Will his ageing body allow him to do so? Who knows?

What we can be assured of is this: Federer will never leave without trying because champions, to quote Venus again, do not do “easy”.

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