There are three ways for an athlete to retire. 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 lying on the frozen turf in Buffalo, concussed, and Larry Bird resting his aching back on the Dream Team sideline. And Joe Theismann, well ...
Then there is Door No. 3: hanging on too long. It is the saddest door in sports. It is watching Willie Mays stumble in the outfield, Pedro Martinez get hammered in the World Series and Michael Jordan wear a Washington Wizards jersey.
Roger Federer's announcement that he will miss the remainder of the 2016 season suggests he will soon be headed toward Door No. 2. But within his Facebook announcement, in which he mentioned his plan to return and play another "two or three years," he is risking the dreaded Door No. 3.
To love Federer, as his ravenous fan base does, is to read his vow to return to play "attacking tennis" as his showing the teeth of the shark. For all Federer's legendary elegance and beauty, it is his competitive side, the part motivated by slight or appearance of a new rival or someone challenging his place that gives the genius its power.
Sharks know only how to eat and fight, however, and don't get hung up on near misses. Doubting Federer fuels the engine. He is quick to remind the public and media that losing to Sergiy Stakhovsky at Wimbledon and Tommy Robredo at the US Open, both in 2013, were not the end of the world after all. Last season, despite losses to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon and US Open finals, was one of his strongest in years.
What door awaits Federer will be a fascinating watch when he returns in 2017. His tank is not empty, in either competitiveness or love for the sport. He hasn't won a major since 2012, but he has been a finalist three times. For him, that is proof that he has no reason to quit or give in to anyone, Djokovic included.
Those who watch Federer struggle and want him to quit do so generally out of love. They get squeamish watching the master yield to time, the one enemy that remains undefeated. The shark doesn't look at it that way, which is why he is a shark.