Face it its time for Novak Djokovic and Venus Williams to retire

Arthur Ashe Stadium is practically a geriatric ward this year.Just look at this 2026 US Open.Two singles players around age 40 have competed on the biggest tennis court in the world: Novak Djokovic (39) and Venus Williams (46!). Predictably, both of the former champions crashed out in the first round.Djoker did so in a queasily dramatic fashion — much in the same manner of his physical collapse at the Cincinnati Open two weeks earlier. In Flushing Meadows, the nearly-over-the-hill Serb vomited multiple times last Sunday, cramped up and broke down in tears.What fun. I wonder what the ring-light-loving influencers proliferating like bunnies at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center made of that stomach-churning display! And Williams, the oldest person of both the men’s and women’s tours by some distance, lost in two sets to fellow American Sofia Kenin. Williams — the world No.

618! — hasn’t won a grand slam singles match since 2021.And still she was mystifyingly granted a wildcard into the tournament.Can these guys please just retire?Though, why would they? With slams routinely giving them prime stages and treating them like royalty, and lazy, stuck-in-the-past commentators gassing them up all the time, the only incentive for aging players to gracefully exit is extreme public embarrassment.Well, if Novak and Venus stick around much longer, there will be plenty more of that.Meanwhile, tennis keeps getting older.Thirty used to be long in the tooth in the sport for men.

Thirty-five? Rip Van Winkle.Forty? Methuselah. The oldest grand slam winner ever remains Ken Rosewall, who was 37 when he won the 1972 Australian Open.

Ya know, back when rackets were made of wood and tennis was way less physically punishing than it is today.But over at the Grandstand court, world No.127 Stan Wawrinka played his final slam match at age 41. The Open gave the 2016 US champ a last-minute wildcard as a going-away present. That’s much better than reserving a spot...