Beckham Shocks Fans With Surgery Snaps

The sportsman, who celebrates his 35th birthday on Sunday (02May10), has been sidelined by injury after he ruptured his Achilles tendon in March (10) and will have to sit out of the upcoming soccer World Cup in South Africa.

Beckham underwent an operation to repair the damage, and he shared stomach-churning images of the surgery with viewers of David Letterman's Late Show this week (beg26Apr10).

He told the talk show host, "The surgeons cut open the top of my calf, pulled the tendon back, cut open my Achilles and reattached it. They said as long as I follow the rules and don't try to rush back too quickly then I should heal well and be playing at the start of November - or even before that, I hope.

"I think I'd been running too much (before the injury) and I was tired. In the last two years I have been pushing myself too hard because I wanted to get into the World Cup and stay in the England national team. And I'd been flying from L.A. back to Europe a lot and I think it (the tendon) gave up."