Is Roger Federer in danger of hanging on too long?

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There are three ways an athlete retires. There’s Door No. 1: the Jim Brown/Bill Russell model, which is to retire at the top of the game without a detectable diminishment of skill. Brown walked away the best player in the game in 1965. An aged, ferocious champion Russell did so in 1969.

There is Door No. 2: Being knocked into retirement by injury. Andy Roddick hurt his shoulder and called it a career. Terry Bradshaw’s elbow ended his playing days. There was Joe Montana laying on the frozen turf in Buffalo, concussed, and Larry Bird resting his aching back on the Dream Team sidelines. And Joe Theismann, well …

And then there is Door No. 3: hanging on too long. It is the saddest door in sports, watching Willie Mays stumble in the outfield, Pedro Martinez being hammered in the World Series or Michael Jordan wearing a Washington Wizards jersey.

This is not the lasting picture we’re going to want when Roger Federer eventually calls it a career. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Roger Federer’s announcement that he will miss the remained of the 2016 season suggests he, too, will soon be headed toward Door No. 2, but …

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