Irish Examiner View: Roger Federer is the champions’ champion

Federer revealed on Thursday that he will call time on his professional career.

Roger Federer hits a return against Austria's Jurgen Melzer on day one of the Australian Open in 2017. Picture: PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images)

The retirement of Roger Federer, aged 41, veteran of 1,500 matches spanning 24 years, with his 20 grand slam titles, marks the conclusion of a golden age of tennis which he has dominated along with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Not since the late 1950s quartet of Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, and Pancho Gonzalez, the beginnings of professionalism, has tennis talent been so widely distributed in the men’s game.

Women’s tennis doyenne Billie-Jean King called Federer “the champions’ champion”. That is a fine valediction.