Soccer Legends - David Beckham

Born on May 2, 1975, David Robert Joseph Beckham is an English soccer player who plays for Real Madrid and the England National Soccer Team. He made his debut at he age of seventeen. He signed up with Manchester United and played a vital role in dominating the FA Premier League in the 1990s and 200s. He left them and signed up for Real Madrid in 2003. He was the captain of the English national team for six years, from November 2000 to July 2006.

David Beckham was born in London, England. His father, David Edward Alan Ted Beckham was a kitchen fitter and a hairdresser. Beckham's maternal grandfather was a Jew and was greatly influenced by him, but he admitted that he doesn't follow any faith in particular. His father was a great fan of Manchester United and his son inherited this passion. David Beckham's talent surfaced when he won a talent search competition held by the FC Barcelona. He was a team member of the Ridgeway Rovers, a team that was coached by his father. He played for the club Tottenham Hotspur, which was also his first club. He took training from the Bradenton Preparatory Academy and Manchester United's Youth Training Scheme.

In 1992, he played for the Manchester United's team as a substitute. After that, he signed his very first professional contract. Beckham became a household name when he scored a marvelous goal in August 1996, against Wimbledon. His debut in World Cup was on September 1, 1996 in the England vs. Moldova match. PPA Young voted him as the Player of the Year in that year. In the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he played all the matches and in the finals his team played with France. Due to his bad performance in it, the media and supporters, who blamed him for England's elimination, accused him. He even received death threats and the whole incident was the story line of his Adidas advertisement.

England won the FA Cup and Champions League in the 1998-99 seasons and David Beckham was a part of that United Team. Although he was criticized from time to time, about his World Cup performance, he didn't give up and provided significant performance and goals afterwards. United forgave him when he was the reason behind the victory at the league championship. In 1999, he won the European Footballer of the Year award and FIFA World Player of the Year title. But England's defeat in Euro 2000 brought back the criticism from the supporters.

Union team's manager Kevin Keegan resigned on November 15, 2000, following which David Beckham was made the captain of the team. Under his captaincy, England qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals. His superb performance in the finals inspired many of the poor performing team member. He again won the FIFA World Player of the Year award and BBC presented him the Sports Personality of the Year, in 2001.

Beckham broke his second metatarsal bone in his left foot on April 10, 2002. The media speculated that the injury was done on purpose as it involved Aldo Duscher of Argentina who was in the opponents team and both the teams were going to face each other in the World Cup.

He became the highest paid player in the world in 2002, when he signed a 3-year contract with Manchester United in May. He was given extra money to buy rights for his images. Advertisements, endorsement deals were meant huge money for Beckham.

After the recovery from the injury, David Beckham returned to play at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He got a winning goal, which knocked out Argentina. Later England was knocked out by Brazil. He was a victim to another injury in 2002-03 seasons and he was unable to play in the Manchester Team. His terms worsened with the manager Sir Alex Ferguson when he threw a boot at Beckham which injured his eye, following a lost match.

Beckham's performance was again criticized in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. England lost in the quarterfinals and Beckham step down from captaincy. His final match was with Real Madrid on June 17th, 2007.

In his career of eleven years, he made a total of two hundred and sixty six appearances and got sixty-one goals. He has six Premiership titles, one UEFA Champions League, two FA Cups, and one FA Youth Cup to his credit.

Tennis Legends: Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova is an ex-World number 1 female Tennis Player. Born on October 18, 1956 in Czechoslovakia, she became the citizen of America in 1981.Her stepfather Miroslav Navratil was her first coach. Martina won the Czech republic national tennis championship at the age of fifteen. At the age of seventeen, she got her very first professional singles title when she played the match in Orlando, Florida. She became a professional tennis player in 1975.

In 1975's Grand Slam singles tournaments, she was one of the finalist in both the Australian Open and French Open, but she lost in both the finals to Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Chris Evert, respectively. The same year, she even lost in the semi finals of the US Open the same year after which she made her mind to get the green card of United States. In 1978, Navratilova got her first victory in the Grand Slam singles at Wimbledon and at the same she acquired the world number 1 rank after defeating Chris Evert.

Navratilova was a women of great power and aggression because of which she raised the level of competition. Initially she was on the heavier side and she had to struggle a lot to get into shape for tennis. In this regard Nancy Lieberman, a basketball player, helped her. She underwent severe levels of fitness and exercising which finally got her into shape. She even learned the technique to use graphite racquets, which made her one of the most dominant tennis player.

She again beat Evert in the 1981 Grand Slam singles, in Australia Open. The next year she won the French and Wimbledon Open. In 1983, she won in three out of four Grand Slam events. She had scored the best ever-professional winning percentage as a tennis player. She retaliated back by winning the French Open Grand Slam of the year 1984, which she had lost in 1983. This superb victory was called the Grand Slam by the president of the International Tennis Federation, Philippe Chatrier. From 1982-1984, she lost only six of the singles matches.

Navratilova won women's doubles titles in all the four Grand Slams of 1984. From 1985-1987, she won six out of eleven women's singles final Grand Slam tournaments. Steffi Graff started to play in 1987 and from the beginning she gave a tough competition to Martina Navratilova. Graff defeated her in her first Grand slam in the finals of French Open. Navratilova gained back her title by defeating Graff in the 1987 Wimbledon Open. Navratilova's won her final Grand Slam singles in 1990. Her name was included in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the year 2000.

The left-handed athlete was known to be the greatest tennis player, be it singles, doubles or mixed doubles. She was the second best female athlete of the twentieth century according to Steve Flink. From 1965 to 2005, she was named as the greatest female tennis player by Tennis magazine. In her career, she won a total of thirty one Grand Slam women's doubles titles, which is also a world record, eighteen Grand Slam singles titles, ten Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and nine Wimbledon women's singles titles. She has won one hundred and sixty seven single tournaments and one hundred and seventy seven doubles tournaments, which is an open era record. Navratilova won seventy-four matches consecutively, which is the third longest winning streak in women's tennis history. Along with Margaret Smith Court and Maureen Connolly Brinker, Navratilova holds the record for the maximum consecutive Grand Slam singles tournament championships.

Tennis Legends: Steffi Graf

Stefanie Maria Graf is a former World number 1 player in women's tennis. Her performance depended mostly in her powerful forehand because of which she was nicknamed Fraulein Forehand. She even cultivated an impressive slice backhand and consistent volley. Her serve was so accurate and powerful that it travelled at the speed of 180 km per hr, which was one of the fastest serve. She not only had an amazing footwork but also her strokes were very powerful.

Graf's first tournament as a professional was played in October 1982, Germany. In that match, she lost to Tracy Austin, who she defeated twelve years later. Although she didn't win any titles for the next three years, her rank was steadily increasing and her skills improved rapidly. Defeating Chris Evert won her first tour title in April 1986.

When tennis was re-introduced in 1988 Olympic games after forty years, Steffi Graf took full advantage of it by winning the Olympic gold medal in the singles. The same year she won all the four Grand Slam singles titles, making her the only women tennis player to do so. This feat of hers' was declared as the Golden Slam. She is also the only female to win all the four Grand Slams, Wimbledon Open, French Open, Australian Open and US Open, for four times each. During this period the US Open and Australian Open were played on grass unlike now where all the venues have clay court. So Graf has the credit of playing on all kinds of tennis courts. From French Open in 1987 to US Open in 1996, she played a total of thirty-six Grand Slam singles tournaments, in which she made it to the finals of twenty-nine tournaments and won twenty-one of them.

For three hundred and seventy seven weeks Graf was ranked the Women's Tennis Association's Number 1 player. Any male or female tennis player could never set this record. She won a total of seven Wimbledon singles titles and six French Open singles titles. From the 1987 French Open to 1990 French Open, Graf made it to the finals of thirteen Grand Slams consecutively and won nine of the thirteen.

A panel of judges of the Associated Press declared her as the greatest female tennis player of the twentieth century, in December 1999. Graf's twenty-second Grand Slam title was her final one in the 1999 French Open. She retired in the same year and became the highest ranked player to retire at third position in the world.

Her father Peter Graf, who was an aspiring tennis coach, was responsible for introducing her to the world of tennis. Although her training started at the age of three, she began playing on the court from the age of four. Her father kept a close watch on her routine and lifestyle. She was always expected to practice and that was the reason why she didn't socialize much. But this narrow focus drastically improved her performance. But later on in life, she was involved in a controversy of Graf tax scandal as she had some issues with her father. After retiring from the tennis circuit in 1999, she began dating Andre Agassi, who himself is an ex-World number 1 male tennis player. They both got married in October 2001 and Steffi gave birth to their son Jaden Gil, four days after their marriage. Their second child, a daughter, Jaz Elle, was born in October 2003.