Celebrity Friday: Esther Vergeer Retires With 470-0 Winning Streak

Esther Vergeer, the most successful athlete in the history of disabled sports, has retired. Vergeer is a wheelchair tennis player and has an incredible list of records, the most impressive may be that she retires with a 470-0 winning streak, having last lost a tennis match on January 30, 2003, going an entire decade of competition unbeaten.

Tennis Now summarizes some of her achievement:

She has been named ITF Wheelchair World Champion for the last 13 years, winning 169 titles and ends her career on a winning streak of 470 matches, with her last defeat coming against Australian Daniela di Toro in Sydney on January 30, 2003.

In the last 10 years Vergeer has won a total of 120 successive tournaments, beating 73 different opponents, winning 95 matches 6-0, 6-0 and dropping just 18 sets of tennis. In that time she faced only one match point – against fellow countrywoman Korie Homan in the women’s gold medal match at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

In Grand Slam play, Vergeer won every singles event she entered, racking up 21 singles titles and 23 doubles titles at the majors. She won eight Paralympic medals during her career, seven of which were gold to cement her place in the history books as a true sporting legend.

Congratulations to Esther!

hat/tip to Tennis Now