Roger Federer, a genius who made tennis look effortless

We are living through a period where the expected has surprised. In life, there is always an ending. Always. We know this. We anticipate this. We try to prepare for this. But when the passing of time forces a chapter to inevitably close, the reality of it all still stuns like a thunderbolt.

Roger Federer wasn't going to play tennis forever. Aged 41 and having endured one injury after another in recent years, the sand was rapidly falling to the bottom of the hourglass. Even great champions retire.

But, like Serena Williams, Federer had altered the expected arc of a tennis player's career. In their fourth decades, they continued to accumulate titles and break records, fortifying their greatness. In their fifth decades, they both were, incredibly, still present.