Letter: Lamenting the retiring types

Sir: This year has been a momentous one with regard to retirements of sporting legends. Ten years ago the thought of cricket without Ian or Viv or tennis without Mac would have sent me and my contemporaries into depression. Seduced by American sports, basketball was the most recent of my infatuations, Jordan was the reason why. After 30 years of watching all sport, Michael Jordan is the greatest athlete I have been fortunate enough to see. The sport can't be the same without him because without Jordan on the court, there is no gauge of real greatness.

Yours sincerely,

JOHN BATTSEK

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7 October