Butch and Sundance

To every generation there is the next. To every exclamation point, another is at the ready. To every end there is a new beginning.

But this one feels different. Roger and Rafa were a universe unto themselves. Yes there were others who occasionally interceded and then there was an interloper who they could not shake. Who, in the record books surpassed them both. But though he bettered them he never really equaled them in our eyes.

Like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid they rode into town with guns blazing and rode away having stolen our hearts.

Roger and Rafa bled for tennis, their love for their chosen undertaking evident in every point they played, every shot a declaration as it left the racquet. Rafa with a commitment, a dogged relentlessness that could be felt not merely by his opponent but by all those who bore witness to his piercing intensity.

Roger bid us adieu in a teary farewell at the Laver Cup 2022, with Rafa by his side, seemingly as shaken by Roger's leaving as the gentleman king himself.

And next month it will be Rafa's swan song. His body betraying him, his burning desire no longer an equal match to a pain that refuses to recede.

Sinner and Alcaraz now taking center stage. Another set of athletes preparing to wear the crown.

But somehow it feels like there will never be another Butch and Sundance. Their guns laid down, but their story forever without rival.