A professional athlete’s career can end at any moment. Anything from injuries, slumps, and pure bad luck can ruin a career.
Some athletes, however, manage to avoid all those and stand the test of time.
The tennis world saw the return of one-half of the Williams dynamic duo of Serena and Venus, with the latter hitting the court in Washington, D.C., after a 16-month respite. Although Williams said she came back partially because it provided a solution to a logistical health insurance issue, she also referred to how the sights and sounds from being at Wimbledon this year reinvigorated her passion for the game.
“When I went to Wimbledon this year—I was there for a day—and it was so beautiful and exciting, and I remembered all the times that I had, and of course the adrenaline, all those things,” Williams said, according to Tennis.com. “The pure fun of playing the game, the fun of the challenge. You overcome so many challenges [as a player]: your opponents, the conditions, a lot of times you have to overcome yourself.”
Not every sport allows for a comeback like this, either. According to a Bleacher Report article from 2018 that cited a RAM Financial Group report, the average career span of an NFL player is just three-and-a-half years. NBA, 4.8. MLB, 5.6. NHL, 5.5.
There are exceptions to this, of course. Vince Carter played 22 seasons in the NBA and was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year. Playing for three different teams over the course of 26 seasons, George Blanda still has the longest career span of any NFL player. When he retired in 2010, Chris Chelios tied Gordie Howe for the NHL’s longest career with 26 seasons on the ice.
These players were just built differently, but what about sports that aren’t as taxing on the body? Say, golf and tennis?
While still demanding and requiring ample training time like all other sports, golf and tennis can be viewed as exceptions, too, where many careers can extend well past those of football, basketball, or hockey. In golf, the average age of a player on the 2023 PGA Champions Tour was 55.61. On the tennis court, players like Novak Djokovic continue to compete with players nearly half his age and twice his stamina.
Williams not only won her first-round match over then No. 35-ranked Peyton Stearns, but the 45-year-old five-time Wimbledon and two-time U.S. Open champion did so in straight sets. The victory says a lot about her diligence when it comes to staying in shape at a relatively old age, but as technology and recovery techniques improve, it may not be such a surprise that Williams managed to serve it up again.
There’s another bonus to this, too—a heightened level of connection between fans and players.
The opportunity for extended careers is what makes golf and tennis’s fan bases so loyal. Spectators get to see how athletes grow and compete over several years — or even decades. From the ups and downs to the miracles and chokes, viewers get to see how players overcome or come crumbling down.
Although mainstream professional sports often get the most attention for their flashiness and day-to-day drama, golf and tennis are separate because of the slower, more methodical philosophies behind them.
Luckily, the two sports’ players have such a passion for the game that they’re willing to carry on that legacy even if their bodies tell them otherwise.