With the end of 2019, another decade has gone by as well. During this past decade, there were many athletes that showed amazing performances each year. Associated Press News chose a female and male athlete of the decade. The male athlete award was given to LeBron James and the female athlete award was given to Serena Williams.
LeBron James is an NBA basketball player. He began playing on the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003. He has played on three teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, and is currently on the Los Angeles Lakers. During this decade LeBron has earned three NBA championships, three NBA most valuable player awards (currently has four in total), and two Olympic gold medals. A video titled “LeBron James’ best moments of the decade” posted by NBA on ESPN showed a few of LeBron’s most memorable highlights. The highlights included LeBron winning his first NBA championship in 2012 while playing on Miami Heat and him scoring a record of 61 points in one game. One of his best moments was in 2014 when LeBron was still playing on Miami Heat in a game versus the Bobcats in the 2015 Eastern Conference Semifinals. It was game 4 and Lebron playing on the Cleveland Cavaliers was tied with the Bulls. There were 1.5 seconds left on the clock when Lebron received a pass and made a 3-pointer, the winning shot of the game. Serena Williams is a professional tennis player and former number one player in the world. She has won four Olympic gold medals, holds the record for 39 Grand Slam tournament titles, and has been ranked number one best player in the world by the Women’s Tennis Association eight times. In 2016, she was the highest-paid female athlete earning almost $29 million in prize money. The video “Player of the Decade” by Tennis Now explains Serena’s journey and accomplishments in the past decade. Serena won 12 major titles, outnumbering her record in the 2000s. There have been some downsides to her journey, which include developing pulmonary embolism and the complicated birth of her baby girl Olympia. CNN says the birth of her daughter was easy, yet the aftermath was life-threatening. Serena’s pulmonary embolism, a blockage in one of the pulmonary arteries in her lungs, caused her to lose her breath. She then worsened and developed a bad cough which opened her C-section wound and put her into surgery. During her surgery, they found more complications that lengthened the surgery. After the surgery, she spent the next six weeks on bed rest. This took time away from tennis, but she was able to power through and continue winning big titles. She earned her second Serena Slam and was the best player at the majors because no other player won more than three major titles at the slams. Serena became the oldest major champion and beat the record for open era Grand Slam titles. My personal vote for athlete of the decade goes to Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi is a professional soccer player who was born in Argentina but moved to Barcelona, Spain to play for their youth academy. When he was 17, he began playing competitively on Barcelona’s professional team. The article “Lionel Messi’s 20 greatest moments of the decade (2010-20)”, by Give Me Sport, says that Messi scored 579 goals for both his club and country teams, and won the Ballon d’Or five times. In 2011, Messi scored an amazing goal at the Champions League semi-final game at the home of their rivals. It was in the 76th minute when he passed the ball to Sergio Busquets, giving him a quick pass towards the goal. Messi played the ball up, going through the defense, then scoring. In 2014, Argentina lost to Germany in the World Cup, but Messi did not completely lose because he won the tournaments best player and was awarded the Golden Ball. Messi also became the first player in history to score five goals in a Champions League in 2015. The past decade had many athletes that stood out and showed us consistent performances even through their ups and downs. LeBron James and Serena Williams were voted by Associated Press, but who do you consider the athlete of the decade? |
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