Messi, Federer, Hamilton, Ronaldo, Williams: Has this been sport's golden era? | OneFootball

An emotional video currently circulating on social media displays a compilation of the most recent generation of sports superstars, reminding us of how blessed we are to have witnessed such greatness.

The compilation, created by @sleepybrrr on TikTok, starts with a snippet of the emotional final act to Roger Federer’s career at the Laver Cup last weekend, which had both the Swiss Maestro and his long-time rival Rafael Nadal crying at the end of such an iconic era.

Fittingly, the narration to the video claims: “No part of us wants them to go, to grow slower and age as we do. But the end does come, as it has to. There will be someone else in time, it has always been that way.”

Incredible video highlighting generation of athletes go viral

And whatever sport you may be a fan of, you cannot help but appreciate the greatness of the past decade’s athletes, with the video cutting to clips of modern legends who are coming to the end of their careers.

From American football’s Tom Brady, to tennis’ Serena Williams, and Formula 1’s Lewis Hamilton, the clip reminds us of how essentially every sport has had an iconic, record-breaking figurehead to define the era.

Or in the case of football, the video pays tribute to the two modern figureheads Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, as well as featuring nods to Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer and Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar Jr.

Video: ‘The best generation in the history of sport’

The clip also contains a plethora of iconic athletics champions that have graced us with their talent over the past couple of decades, such as USA’s Allyson Felix, to Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce and Usain Bolt.

While many of these sports stars have already retired, with fellow tennis legend Serena Williams also having announced her retirement in August, Federer’s retirement on the weekend feels like the beginning of the end for the most recent era of greatness that we have been lucky to witness.

With Lebron James turning 38 years old later this year, Tom Brady starting the new NFL season at 45 years old, and Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both heading into what will most likely be their last World Cup in Qatar later this year, one cannot avoid the inevitability that will be the end of this iconic era.

However, as the fitting narration to the video said: “The end does come, as it has to. There will be someone else in time, it has always been that way.”