The Last Walk

With the exception of golf, almost every other sport is almost always the dominion of the young. Only in professional sports would anybody around 30 year be considered old. Seeing the sportsmen during the last stages of their career is probably the hardest thing for a fan.
During the 90s, Tennis had some of greats of the game at in their prime - Pete Sampras, Steffi Graf and Andre Aggasi. I used to root for Pete Sampras in almost all his games. But towards the end of his career seeing him play and loose was one of the most heart wrenching experience. To see him loose meekly to a lesser player only because of his age was a sad experience. And when he won the 2002 US Open, and walked away with the trophy everybody knew it was his last walk from the center court and professional tennis. The last walk is probably the most painful journey a sportsman can make in his career. Pete Sampras was lucky to have left on a high note.
But not every sportsman could do that. The Late Great Donald Bradman could not score any runs on his last match and went out for a duck (although he did get a standing ovation since he had announced previously that it was his last match). But Sunil Gavaskar did not even have that luxury. He booed out of the stadium in his last match for scoring low, as he made his last walk. Similarly, Ravi Shastri was decried for batting slowly by having his photo was paraded with bathroom slippers around his neck. Saurav Ganguly was recently publicly humiliated by his coach (much of it due to his own doing).
And of course, Sachin Tendulkar was booed out by the Mumbai crowd for getting out soon. Nobody is to be blamed for this. It is just the natural order of things where the old is replaced by the new. Some leave a legacy while others are forgotten.
But as they say, the show must go on.