Thursday 15 August 2013 16:25, UK
Marion Bartoli surprised us all when she retired from tennis just six weeks after winning the Wimbledon title, but she is not the only sports star to have called it quits ahead of time.
Sugar Ray Leonard Leonard had beaten Thomas Hearns in 'The Showdown' in September 1981, but early the next year the champion suffered an eye injury and required surgery on a detached retina. One of the best boxers of all time then called a news conference and invited Marvin Hagler where he was expected to announce a highly-anticipated clash between the two. Leonard even appeared in a boxing ring for the event, but to everyone's amazement he announced he was retiring from boxing aged just 26. Of course, Leonard would return to fight on numerous occasions after this. Mike Hussey Hussey was not exactly a spring chicken so his retirement could have been expected on the age front, but he was in the form of his life towards the end of 2012 when he decided to quit the Australian Test team. With a host of big names also gone and with back-to-back Ashes series coming up in 2013, Australia badly needed Mr Cricket on board but he surprisingly signalled enough was enough and opted to retire before a huge year of cricket. Barry Sanders One of the greatest running backs in NFL history, Sanders made the league's All-Star team the 'Pro Bowl', in all ten of his seasons playing. He was 31 and had just come off a season running for 1,491 yards so was in no way slowing down and starting to feel the pace. Within 1,500 of beating Walter Payton's career record for rushing yards, Sanders called it quits just before the start of training for the 1999 season. Alain Prost An enigmatic and studious driver, Prost is among Formula One's greats, but he was desperate to go out on top - leading him to retire from the sport after winning the title for fourth time in 1993. He seemed to be at the peak of his career and riving in a brilliant Williams car, but he wanted to leave while he was the best - and in that sense it was job done.
