I used to play 11-a-side football at quite a high level with the high point in my career being trials at Derby County, Leicester City and Nottingham Forest. The trial at the latter club I also see as a low point – one should never betray their morals. I retired from football at the age of 18 when I moved to university. The gloves and boots however were to come out of retirement 3 years later for a spell in the 6-a-side university league. A defeat in the semi finals of the playoffs was hard to take but in my honest opinion, it was a worthy return to the sport; I’ve still got it (at least on the astro). So what about other sportsmen and women of the world, how do their comebacks rate against my triumphant return?
Let’s take Michael Schumacher as the first subject. Not only did my granddad think he was a very handsome man (for a German), he was hailed as the greatest driver of all time by most racing fans when he retired in 2006. The fact he was a 7 times World Champion (2 for Benetton, 5 for Ferrari) made this difficult to disagree with. A bizarre incident in 2009 saw a spring work its way from car to Ferrari’s Felipe Massa’s head. It was dangerously close to being fatal, but thankfully it wasn’t. Nonetheless, it ruled him out of the 2009 season. There was then a clamour for Schumacher to fill in for Massa. A sensational comeback seemed to be going to plan until Schumacher had to rule it out due to a bit of a dicky neck. Dodged a bullet there Michael, I thought at the time, don’t tarnish your record. If the thought of him returning to Ferrari was tarnishing his record, then returning to Mercedes for the 2010 season was the equivalent of smearing the windows with bird poo. The 2010 season saw him fail to win a race, get on the podium, start on pole position, record a fastest lap, or even drive on the right side of the road. It really was a poor comeback. As it stands this season, he is 11th in the standings with 14 points. Underwhelming. His detractors used to question whether he’d be any good in a less than superior car. We will never really know as he didn’t drive a bad car in his prime, but what his comeback did do is give some people a chance to question his greatness. He didn’t need to do that. He should have continued to pick up the big money being a Ferrari advisor and stayed well away from the driving wheel. Verdict: Silly comeback.
To balance it out, how’s about a successful comeback? Kim Clijsters. The Belgian retired from tennis in 2007. During her first stint, her only Grand Slam win came at the US Open in 2005. She had won 2 WTA Tour Championships and appeared in 4 other Grand Slam finals, but it wasn’t particularly a record that would keep you up at night in amazement. The birth of a baby does strange things to people however. Some women get post natal depression, almost all women change their perspectives in life, and infuriatingly, most people associated with newborn babies have an urge to express how cute the baby is, no matter how ugly they actually are. What the birth of Clijster’s baby did though was make the Belgian a better tennis player. Her Grand Slam return came as a wildcard at Flushing Meadows in 2009, the scene of her 2005 US Open triumph. Amazingly, she won after beating the delightful Dane Caroline Wozniacki to become the first mother to win a Grand Slam since 1980; a pointless stat but one that is often associated with Clijsters. A year later she retained the title; the first genuine woman to do so (Venus Williams did it once in 2001 but I’ll leave it to your discretion as to whether you count that one). Another WTA Tour title followed, before she won the Australian Open in 2011. She is still going strong now. Verdict: Great decision on the comeback, Kim.
Now to a comeback that could have been great, but one that was spoiled by a moment of crazyness. If you hadn’t guessed who I’m on about, then it’s Zinedine Zidane. Zizu, as cool people often refer to him as, never actually retired from all forms of football, just the international form. A World Cup winner in 1998, a European Championship winner in 2000, he had done it all for his country. An injury kept him out of most of the 2002 World Cup but he was forced to play in a must-win match against Denmark to try and get the French through. They lost, and they went home at the group stages. 2004 European Championships, France v Greece. The French were much fancied but lost 1-0 to a Greek side that absolutely no-one will remember in 20 years time. It was at this point Zidane announced his retirement from the international game. Fair play to him as well, abort that sinking ship. A year later though he was to reverse his retirement and in 2006 led France to Germany as captain. He had a great World Cup, scoring important goals (including one in the final), and also picked up the player of the tournament award (before the final – very strange timing). So in extra time, the camera’s picked up on Italy’s Marco Materazzi writhing around on the floor in agony with a sheepish Zidane nearby. “Get up you diving little thing you” was what I remember thinking at the time. Then I saw the replay. Bang. That was the sound of Zidane’s bald head onto Materazzi’s sternum. Must have hurt. This was the end of Zidane’s footballing career; it ended in disgrace and with a three match ban, but as he would never play football again he did three days of community service instead; quite suitable considering it was actually assault. Him and Marco Materazzi, who was believed to have insulted Zidane’s sister, still have a frosty relationship; apparently Zidane would rather die than apologise. Verdict: Could have been a fairytale comeback, if you believe in fairytales.
Lance Armstrong. The best cyclist ever; even better than Sir Chris Hoye who cycled very quickly round a track in 2008 and then found himself on the receiving end of a knighthood. What about Ryan Giggs, why is he not a Sir? Clean living family man who has given his all to his sport for 20 years… Anyway, Armstrong had very severe cancer in 1996 and the outlook was very bleak for him. He battled through it and won the Tour de France for seven consecutive years and straight after his seventh in 2005, announced his retirement. His comeback was announced in 2008 with the intention of riding in the 2009 Tour de France. In this edition he finished 3rd, and after four years out this can be seen as a fantastic achievement. His final Tour de France in 2010 wasn’t great; he finished in 23rd place. So whilst he never reached the heights he reached earlier on in his career, his comeback can be seen as a relative success. The primary reason he came back, according to Armstrong, was to raise awareness for the Armstrong Foundation, so he can’t be faulted for that. Verdict: Heart was in the right place, and didn’t disgrace himself.
Now onto Tiger Woods. Eldrick, as he is referred to in quiz questions, was the best golfer in the history of the world (there is a bit of a theme emerging here isn’t there?) before his naughty exploits came to the forefront of the world. He had achieved everything in golf, and then in November 2009 he achieved the feat of crashing his car into a fire hydrant (common obstacles in the USA). Everything unfolded from there and women Tiger had been “entertaining” were coming out the closet left, right and centre. To cut a long story short he did a typically American over-the-top press conference in which he got very emotional and announced he would be taking a break from golf. After this he shook everyones hand and hugged them; it was as if he was going on a one way trip to outer space. Since he returned in 2010 he hasn’t truly recaptured his form or the World Number 1 ranking, although he did put in a decent performance at the Ryder Cup. It seems as if Tiger was at his best when he had women lined up after a day on the golf course. I’m not sure I can fault him. Verdict: He was always going to return and he will undoubtedly get better.
So sporting comebacks from the worlds best athletes are a bit of a risk. Some pay off (Clijsters, and myself), some backfire (Schumacher), and others are hard to judge (Zidane, Armstrong, Tiger Woods). The difference between Clijsters and the rest though, was that Clijsters was never actually going to go down as a sporting great before she retired the first time, the others were. Her comeback has been terrific. Floyd Mayweather Junior, the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world before he retired (that theme keeps running), has been in talks over returning to the ring to face current best pound-for-pound boxer Manny Pacquiao, but it hasn’t yet happened. My advice Floyd, which you will never get to hear, would be to stay away. Don’t tarnish your reputation. Oh, and if Robbie Savage ever returns to football, it will automatically be a “Verdict: Oh dear”.
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