But an athlete less commonly known than the individuals I have mentioned boasts sporting achievements which outshine them all. Her name is Esther Vergeer and her unparalleled feats in the sport of wheelchair tennis will surely never be matched for as long as the game is played.

Vergeer, who hails from Woerden in the Netherlands, became a paraplegic when she was just eight-years-old following an otherwise successful but very risky surgery concerning hemorrhaging blood vessels around her spinal cord. During her rehabilitation, she learned to play wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis.

Vergeer was actually so good at wheelchair basketball that she was an integral part of the Dutch team that won the 1997 European Championships. However, it was wheelchair tennis that would make Vergeer an international star and one of the greatest Paralympians of all time.

Vergeer’s first big win in tennis was at the 1998 US Open Championships which catapulted her up the world rankings and made her rivals take notice.

Little did they realise however, just how much notice they would have to take of Vergeer over the next decade and beyond.

Vergeer (pictured) won gold at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics without dropping a set and then went on to claim victory in both the women’s singles at the Athens 2004 Paralympics and the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.

She now has five Paralympic gold medals and one silver, which she picked up in the doubles event in Beijing.

Vergeer has now won every major tournament in the game on more than one occasion.

She is the only athlete in history to twice win the prestigious Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability, arguably the biggest accolade on the planet for a disabled sports person.

But most impressively of all, Vergeer is on the longest current winning streak in sport having gone nearly 400 games without tasting defeat. The unbeaten-streak astonishingly goes all the way back to January 2003 meaning that the world number one women’s wheelchair player has not been defeated in a wheelchair singles match in over seven years.

Add to this the fact that Vergeer has now won just over 100 consecutive tournaments in a row and you may start to build a picture of just how incredible this sportswoman’s achievements actually are.

Such unprecedented sporting accomplishment might make one particularly arrogant and, as I arrived at the picturesque Nottingham Tennis Centre to meet the superstar, I wasn’t too sure what Vergeer would be like in person.

However, within seconds of taking to her, I was delighted to find that the Dutchwomen is one of the friendliest, wittiest and most charming athletes I have ever encountered. She talks openly in response to any question I ask and it is not long before I feel like I am talking to an old friend as opposed to one of the greatest athletes in the world who I have only just met.

I decided to start things by asking the 29-year-old about her ridiculous winning streak and whether she is worried about losing it.

"No not all," she says to my complete surprise. "In the build up to the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, it was so stressful because everyone was focusing on my unbeaten record. This was around 2007 and I thought that I would probably get beaten on before Beijing. I use to say to myself, ‘It is only human to lose so if I have to lose, please let it be in one of my preparation matches for Beijing.

"I obviously didn’t lose a game so before the Games so when I got to the Paralympics, the pressure was so high that I used to just talk to myself the whole time and say, ‘Please don’t lose a match here, not on this podium, not at this event.

"It really affected me so much so that I had a match point against me in the final [against Dutch compatriot Korie Homan] because the pressure was too high.

"I somehow came through the match to win but after that I promised myself that I wouldn’t worry about it anymore because it is just too stressful if you focus on that.

"There are a couple of girls out there that have the possibility to beat me but every time they come close, it seems like something in their head just messes it up for them.

"I have a lot of experience and confidence in myself and maybe they see that and that has an impact on them.

"But in two years time when we get to London 2012, a lot of things can change and if the other girls trained hard. If they really want to become world number one and be a gold medal winner, then there is an opportunity to beat me."

Vergeer admits that victory at London 2012 is her ultimate goal and after the Game claims she will hang up her racquet for good. However, following her victory in Beijing, she admits that she thought about retiring two years ago because she felt a severe lack of motivation having achieved everything in the sport.

"I did have real problems with motivation after Beijing," she explained. "I didn’t feel happy in my own skin so to speak so I decided to change coaches from Aad Zwaan who has coached me my entire career to Sven Groeneveld who has never worked in wheelchair tennis before but has a lot of experience with able bodied guys.



"It was really hard to part with Aad after so long together but Sven has given me a fresh outlook and new things to work on and that motivates me. The other factor is that we are now only two years from London 2012 and I can cope with competing for two more years to go out in London. My main goal is to win gold in London and I am more concerned about that than being number one or remaining unbeaten."

After London 2012, Vergeer admits that she is not completely sure about what route she will go down but promised that she hopes to do a large amount with her Foundation, the Esther Vergeer Foundation, which helps to get disabled children involved in sport.

"Working with my Foundation is awesome," she said. "It’s so much fun to get those little kids enthusiastic about sport and I want to do more with that but I also want to do other things as well.

"I have a studied management, economics and law and I really enjoy sports marketing. There are lots of sports marketing companies who work with able bodied sport but there is not so much with disabled sport.

"However, in the future, I think there are more opportunities to get involved marketing disabled sport as we are getting more and more professional and I want to see how far I can go with that and to help commercialise Paralympic sport."

Vergeer has spent the majority of her life in a wheelchair but having accomplished so much for the Paralympic Movement and having achieved so much in her life, I ask if she ever has regrets about the operation that left her paralysed.

"It is kind of a double feeling. I realise that if I was not in the wheelchair, I may not have the life I do now with all the travelling, meeting so many great people and doing the amazing things I do.

"I have played exhibition tennis with [Rafael] Nadal in Rotterdam and Federer knows me by my first name which is amazing.

"But if I had to chose whether I would want to be in a wheelchair or not, I would have to say not. But it’s difficult really because I would not say that I regret what I do or what happened to me because it gave so much back to me.

"I really want to convince people that there is still so much more out there if you are in a wheelchair because there are people in a wheelchair who just sit in a room doing nothing. Sure, not everyone will be the world number one and travel the world but there is so many fun things to do out there and life is too short to have regrets.

"I do feel a little bit of a responsibility being in the position I am in and it can be hard with all the interviews and clinics I have to do all the time. It does get tiring when people always expect you to do everything but this is really what I want to do and if I can help disability sport grow, I will do my upmost to make sure it does."

Every question I ask, Vergeer responds with a fantastic and articulate answer in what is her second language but I really want to give her something to think about so just as the interview is coming to an end, I ask: “When you hang up you racquet, how do want everyone to remember Esther Vergeer?" My question gets the desired response.

"Wow, that’s a difficult question," she says and for the first time since I have been in her company, she pauses to think about her answer.

After around 30 seconds she slowly begins to respond. "I guess I want people to remember me as an open and spontaneous person that helped disabled sport and wheelchair tennis grow and hopefully a lot of people will say, ‘Because of Esther, I started to play sport.’ That would be the best."

Had I heard that statement from anyone else, I would have though it far too an extravagant wish by which to be remembered but having had the privilege of meeting Esther Vergeer in person; I believe this is exactly the legacy she will leave and in the world of sport, there will never be another who will match her unbelievable accomplishments both on and off the court.

Tom Degun is the Paralympics correspondent for insideworldparasport