Shining a light on the athlete’s eternal battle against Father Time
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The final chapter: James Anderson can still test the very best under brooding English skies. But he was nudged to leave by the England management who have an eye on the future. | Photo credit: Getty Images
Sport is often deemed as the pursuit of the young. Fresh talent is placed on a higher pedestal than an ageing champion inching towards the last stretch. Over the last week, 41-year-old James Anderson walked into his cricketing sunset while Spaniard Lamine Yamal, a mere 17 summers, lit up the Euro in which his country pipped England in the final.
If Anderson was all about pathos and the wistful sigh, Yamal was linked to hope and fresh legs greased with a dollop of magic. And since Spain is the flavour of the season, add 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz to the mix. The tennis star is seemingly the next emperor in an enterprise that not so long ago was entirely the preserve of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Again the old makes way for the new.
The outliers who persevere
All of us have dallied with sport as a child, extending the trend into school and later college. But then life intervenes, work beckons, loans are inevitable and pleasure is sought from the outliers, who persevered and excelled on the turf. For them sport remained their eternal road, for us it was a detour we indulged in before we got practical. Easier to watch on television than deal with a daily 5 a.m. alarm and go for a run and follow it up with a stint at the gym.
Coming for the crown: Carlos Alcaraz is seemingly the next ruler of a kingdom Novak Djokovic is doing his best to hold on to. | Photo credit: Getty Images
But in the perception stakes, an athlete going past his or her 30th birthday is constantly reminded about time’s winged chariot hurrying near. Just as women in conservative societies get needless advice about a biological clock ticking. But as the cliche goes, age is just a number. Teenagers see it as an instance of escapism sought by their elders while those with multiple candles on birthday cakes often chorus: “I feel the same despite my age.”
Shortly after he bowed out from Tests at Lord’s with 704 wickets in his kitty, Anderson got past some emotional interviews and sauntered onto the outfield. It was his domain for two decades and those links cannot be shredded. Moist sentiments in check, he played with the tiny-tots as gentle throwdowns and lots of laughter ensued.
This was sport at its most elemental, devoid of nationalism and commerce. Perhaps this was all of us when we were battling with pimples and first-love angst. At that time, all we did was play a sport just for the sheer joy it offered. Gully-cricket, French-cricket (not many know it, but that calls for a separate article), table tennis, badminton, football, kabaddi and many other sweaty outlets. What Anderson did, seeking happiness from sport without added frills, is an attitude that many forget as they go up the value chain.
It is a truism that the movie ‘Jerry Maguire’, starring Tom Cruise, drilled home in 1996. Yet, sport gets coated with multiple layers. Performance, commercial heft and patriotism all get blended and hype becomes the suffocating outer layer. Throw the spectre of ageism into it and athletes cannot be blamed if they feel that they are caught in a vortex of pressure.
Adequate respite
Individual sport offers adequate respite to its senior practitioners. Federer (now retired), Nadal and Djokovic could stretch their career as all they had to deal with was just their desire for excellence and the itch to remain competitive till the last volley. Fans may have mixed feelings seeing their idols struggle but for the individuals it was all about pursuing a vocation that was second nature to them.
However, in a team sport, the dynamics change. Anderson had lost some pace but under brooding English skies, he could still test the very best. Yet his skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum felt that if the great seamer wasn’t a certainty for future Ashes battles, then it makes sense to make a change. The duo cannot be blamed as at 41, Anderson is bound to deal with more creaky bones in the years ahead.
Discovering another path: The great Martina Navratilova found a welcome second wind as the mixed doubles partner of Leander Paes. | Photo credit: Getty Images
Sport’s delicious irony is that staying in the present defines it, be it lining up a ball and offering a stroke, returning a serve or leaping high to unleash a header. Still, sport is also about building towards the future, especially in team endeavours. Anderson is good enough to play the second Test against the West Indies but would he be good enough for a future Ashes? Will his body last?
In this whirlpool of being in the present while looking at the future, hard judgements are made and it is no secret that Test cricket’s third-highest wicket-taker was nudged to leave but obviously there was respect and grace in the way the full stop was etched at Lord’s.
Sentiment can muddle things too and it did with Sachin Tendulkar as an artificial landmark — 100 international tons, clubbing Tests and ODI yields — and the attendant pressure, both nationalism and commercial, forced the maestro to extend his swansong. There was no doubting his legacy and quality but with age, reflexes slow by a millisecond and that is more than enough for an edge to be taken or a stump to wilt.
Tendulkar has seen both, of being the 16-year-old prodigy bursting upon the Test scene in 1989 and the veteran shedding tears while clasping his hand around the 2011 World Cup. He saw his ups and downs but soldiered on. At times, fans project their self-esteem upon the champion they adore. A Javed Miandad slamming a winning last-ball six off Chetan Sharma eventually became this tired batter getting run out in a 1996 World Cup quarterfinal in Bangalore. Pakistanis took time to accept both realities.
When eras collide
Sport also throws up this ‘old against young’ template and it makes for surreal memories. Ian Botham, way past his best years, testing a young Tendulkar and then scalping him during the 1992 World Cup in Australia, was a supreme moment. The elder had placed the lad in his spot and it was fun.
Botham eventually bowed out of the England squad but in individual sport, fate can be altered. Martina Navratilova, supreme tennis ace, found a late but welcome second wind as the mixed doubles partner of Leander Paes, who himself has done this whole arc of boy wonder becoming a mature legend.
The heart matters and if the limbs are willing allies, athletes can sidestep the tropes of ageism, at least in individual sport. It is again an unfair yardstick as the 30s in regular life is deemed as the phase when men and women make a mark and get ready for greater achievements.
In sport, navigating the 30s is a minefield as every form-lapse and injury-hiatus is seen with a microscope and the selector’s axe is just around the corner. Perhaps we can reveal some empathy instead of being hard taskmasters with regard to our sporting icons while also being smug and repeating the ‘losing weight’ resolution on every New Year’s eve!
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