Time to call it a day?

This is the year when some sporting stars might walk into the sunset.

It is going to be a memorable year for Indian sports fans in one context, at least. The Indian Express is back together. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have teamed up one more time — probably the last — for the Australian Open. It gives a chance to sports fans to see India’s two best doubles players conjure up old magic and have one last crack at glory. This piece of good news, however, could be laced with a tinge of sadness. Paes will turn 38 and Bhupathi 37 in June 2011, and though both these players haven’t set a retirement date, 2011 could be the year we see the last of them on the court.

These two tennis greats aren’t the only ones who could very well be walking into the sunset. Rahul Dravid’s faint hopes of playing limited-overs cricket before the home crowd suffered a blow when he was not selected among the 30 probables for the World Cup. Dravid will turn 38 in January and with the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara gunning for his place, his slot in the Test team, too, will be under threat. After being a stalwart in the Indian batting line-up for over a decade, Dravid is perhaps aware that with every bad outing, the calls for his retirement will grow louder. The World Cup might have been an incentive for the Bangalorean to prolong his international career. This year will probably be the last we see of Dravid in Indian colours.

Speculation about Sachin Tendulkar calling it quits after the World Cup will be rife. The World Cup is the only thing missing in his glittering career. Many believe that Tendulkar will play Test cricket but will bid adieu to the shorter form of the game after the World Cup. There will always be place for a Tendulkar in the Indian team — whatever the format — but looking at his involvement in one-dayers over the last year, the World Cup will be his ideal swansong. Tendulkar has always said that milestones don’t matter to him. But 100 100s is something that would be playing on his mind. And if anyone deserves to create that record, then it is the run-machine from Mumbai.

Elsewhere, Ronaldo, the Brazilian striker and former World Player of the Year, has confirmed that he will quit all forms of football in 2011. It’s been three years since injuries and weight problems took a toll on the greatest striker of all time, and he has been plying his trade with Corinthians in the Brazilian league. A great player like Ronaldo deserved to have a better farewell ground and although he has slipped off the radar of many sports fans, Ronaldo will go down as an all-time great.

Joining Ronaldo will be England’s David Beckham. At 35, Beckham is the most-capped outfield player for England; a knee injury denied him the opportunity to play the World Cup earlier this year. That was supposed to be his swansong. With the next international tournament two years away, it’s unlikely we will see Beckham again in an England jersey. He might continue to play for US-based club, LA Galaxy, but chances are that come December 2011, he will quit the game completely. One of the most iconic players of the last decade, we won’t see him bending one of his trademark free kicks beyond 2011.

Back home, it’s Paes and Bhupathi who people will be following closely. Paes had said that his dream is to compete in the 2012 London Olympics. However, the man who has defied all odds in the past to come up with some amazing results might just not succeed in defying Father Time.