We have seen it time and time again in sport: some athletes would rather retire to the top of their respective sports than overcome their greetings and disappear their legacies. The latest example came on Tuesday night when world number one female tennis player Ashleigh Barty announced her retirement.
Many players have taken a similar path and retired to the Premier of their careers, whether it be due to an injury or just wanting to leave the playing field. With that in mind, it’s worth taking a closer look at some of the most amazing pensions over the years.
Ashleigh Barty
Barty abruptly announced her retirement from tennis on March 23, saying she no longer has the “physical drive” to compete at the highest level. Prior to her retirement, Barty had spent 114 weeks as a top-ranked WTA rider and even won the 2022 Australian Open. The 25-year-old star has won 15 singles titles during his career, including Wimbledon (2021) and the French Open. (2019). Barty left the sport with a 305-102 career record and will certainly come off as one player who left the tennis world too soon.
Barry Sanders
This comes down to being one of the more shocking retirement announcements the sports world has seen. Shortly after turning 31 in 1999, Sanders announced his retirement from the NFL. The Detroit Lions superstar has records for most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons (10) and most seasons with at least 1,100 rushing yards (10, combined with Walter Payton). Sanders has run for no less than 1115 yards in all of his 10 seasons. The man was a human highlight reel who ran for 1,491 yards in his last NFL season and clearly had a few years of high-level football in him.
Andrew Luck
Former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck sent shockwaves through the football world when he abruptly retired last summer. Luck has put together four Pro Bowl seasons since he was the top pick in the 2012 NFL Draft and replaces Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. The star quarterback led the league to pass touchdowns in just his third NFL season and also became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw 370 yards, 4 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of at least 70 percent in a row To have games. Good luck said he was tired of rehabing from injuries at age 29 when he left the game.
Jim Brown
Much like Barry Sanders, Jim Brown retired when he was still putting up monster numbers every year. Brown retired after just nine seasons and came from a season in which he ran for 1,544 yards and tied his previous career high of 17 touchdowns. The Cleveland Browns star tailback averaged 104.3 rushing yards per contest and 5.2 yards per carry over the course of his career. Brown was one of the deadliest running backs in the league and by far considered one of the greatest NFL players of all time as he retired at the top of his career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD_sqMKZRmQ
Brandon Roy
Brandon Roy is the ultimate story of what could have been. After the sixth overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, Roy got off to a stellar start to his NBA career with the Portland Trail Blazers. Roy burst onto the scene right away by winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 2007 and averaging 20.0 points per game in his first four seasons in the league. There were some players who were as explosive as Roy and coupled that with the ability to shoot from across the arc. However, the Trail Blazers star suffered several knee injuries and finally announced his retirement in 2012 before returning for another season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. During last season, he averaged just 5.8 points per game in five games.
Calvin Johnson
There is no doubt that Calvin Johnson was one of the greatest wide receivers the NFL has ever seen. The Detroit Lions star wideout set the NFL Receiving Yards record for a single season as he rolled 1,964 receiving yards during the 2012 season. Johnson’s 6-foot-5-inch frame allowed him to make hard receptions and he was simply Matthew Stafford’s top target. Johnson was a walking highlight reel who could always count on making the big fingers in the crunch time. “Megatron” left the game at age 30 and was still playing at an elite level at the time.
Michael Jordan
If you’ve talked about players retiring in their prime, Michael Jordan could definitely be the poster kid. While Jordan finally returned to the Chicago Bulls in March 1995, his sudden exit from the game in 1993 was really nasty when it happened. Jordan chose to retire after the Bulls’ first three-turf in the early 1990s and pursued a baseball career after his father was assassinated in 1993. NBA. Jordan retired back in 1998, after a second Bulls three-pointer, and one of his Hall of Fame teammates says Chicago would add more hardware to the jewelry box when MJ and the Bulls stayed together.
Bo Jackson
Bo Jackson was a tremendous talent who excelled in football and baseball in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Jackson entered the NFL after winning the Heisman Trophy in 1985 while playing in Auburn. The then-Los Angeles Raiders running back were extremely explosive in his four years with the franchise before they were forced to return from the sport due to a hip injury. Jackson averaged 5.4 yards per carry over his NFL career and averaged 16 touchdowns. In addition, the two-sport star has also put together a strong MLB career. Jackson hit .250 with 141 home runs and 415 RBIs at the time with the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox and California Angels and was the MVP of the 1989 MLB All-Star Game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K7f1n2FRw8
Patrick Willis
After just eight NFL seasons, San Francisco 49ers star linebacker Patrick Willis has announced his retirement after a nasty toe injury that sidelined him for most of the 2014 season. Willis was one of the top linebackers in the NFL after being No. 11 in the 2007 NFL Draft. The 49ers linebacker has tackled at least 101 solo tackles in all of his first four seasons and has had at least four sacks in three of those four campaigns.
Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax was one of the most dominant left-handers in the history of Major League Baseball. Koufax was a seven-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and helped lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to four World Series titles. The star pitcher was also a two-time World Series MVP, but left at the end of the diamond at just 30 years old. Koufax had chronic arthritis in his left elbow, which led him to make a decision at such a young age.
Bjorn Borg
The Swedish sensation Bjorn Borg exploded on the tennis scene in 1972 at the age of 15. Over the course of his career, Borg became the first men’s tennis player in the Open era to win 11 Grand Slam titles with six at the French Open and five. to Wimbledon. He also became the first player to win six French Open titles and was considered the best player in the world from 1977 to 1980. Borg retired at 26 years old due to a constant attention as the face of the sport.
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