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Taken from a list which SkySports published and have rated 1-20 - see if you agree and vote also
https://www.skysports.com/football/...wis-hamilton-serena-williams-and-more#article
20. Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy began the 2010s billed as the man most likely to replace Tiger Woods as the dominant force in golf and, halfway through the decade, those lofty expectations appeared to be not far short of the mark.
Already a winner on the European Tour, McIlroy left a world-class field trailing in his wake when, shortly before his 21st birthday, he fired an astonishing final-day 62 which propelled him to a four-shot win at the Wells Fargo Championship.
His performance at Quail Hollow prompted many to make outlandish predictions of multiple majors, although he would endure near-misses at The Open and the PGA before putting himself on course for a Green Jacket at the 2011 Masters after an imperious first 54 holes.
However, his infamous Sunday meltdown ignited fears over his ability to get over the line in the majors. But, just two months later, his response to the doubters was swift and clinical.
McIlroy set records galore with his eight-shot triumph at the US Open, although he would have to wait until the 2012 PGA Championship to double his major tally – again by eight shots - and McIlroy would end the year as the leading money winner on both the PGA and European Tours.
A much-publicised change of equipment the following year resulted in a reversal of fortunes and he managed only one win worldwide – in December at the Australian Open – but a disappointing 2013 campaign was largely forgotten as he enjoyed a golden 2014.
His followed his win at the BMW PGA Championship with a first Open success at Hoylake, his first WGC title, and then a second Wanamaker Trophy before he again played a key role in a European Ryder Cup victory.
McIlroy was denied the chance to defend his Open title by an ill-timed ankle injury, by which time he was playing second-fiddle to the rapidly-emerging Jordan Spieth, although he did win the Race to Dubai for the third time in four seasons.
After more major frustration in 2016, McIlroy won his first FedExCup in thrilling style at the Tour Championship, but it would be another 19 months before he lifted any more silverware as he was troubled by niggling injuries throughout 2017.
His win at Bay Hill proved his only success of 2018, but McIlroy would end the decade as he began it – knocking on the door of world No 1 status after collecting four big victories including a memorable first win at The Players Championship.
McIlroy chased down Brooks Koepka to win the Tour Championship and his second FedExCup crown, and his third WGC title followed in Shanghai to leave him heading into the next decade with the same hope, confidence and optimism that he had in 2009.
Now 30 years old, McIlroy is still regarded by most as the best player on the planet, but he will start the 2020 Masters without a major to his name in over five-and-a-half years. If he can finally conquer his Augusta demons, he could yet fulfil the expectations of 10 years ago and cement his place among the genuine legends of golf.
Keith Jackson
19. Allyson Felix
The last 10 years have seen American sprinter Allyson Felix cement her place as one of the all-time greatest athletes. During that time, she has won five Olympic gold medals, five world championship gold medals and has become the most decorated track athlete of all time.
The Los Angeles-born sprinter opened up 2010 with gold in the 4x100m at the World Indoor Championships in Doha before adding gold in both relays at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Felix also won bronze and silver in the 200m and 400m, respectively.
However, it was at the London 2012 Olympic Games where she had her most successful championships.
Opting to race the 100m and 200m sprint double, she opened her Olympics with fifth in the 100m, despite running a personal best of 10.89 seconds. That was followed by gold in the 200m and gold in both relays to become the first American woman to win three golds in athletics at an Olympics since Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.
Her first major gold over 400m came at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing where she ran a personal best of 49.26 in the final. In doing so, Felix became the first woman to win world titles in the 200m and the 400m. She would also win silver medals in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics she fell agonisingly short of adding the Olympic title to her world title, beaten into silver by a mere 0.07 seconds by Shaunae Miller of Bahamas. She recovered from that disappointment, though, to win golds in 4×100m and 4×400m relays. It took her overall Olympic haul to nine, six golds and three silvers, a total that matched the six silvers and three bronze medals held by Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey.
She added three more medals at the World Championships in London in 2017, finishing third in the 400m but once again won gold in both the relays for the USA. Those three gold medals in London made her the most decorated athlete in World Championship history, but she was not finished there.
After giving birth to her daughter Camryn in 2018, she returned to the track the following year for her eighth World Championships in Doha. She won her 12th and 13th world championship gold medals in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays and in winning gold in the mixed gender relay she surpassed Usain Bolt’s record for most gold medals in world athletics championship history.
As we head into a new decade, Felix will have her sights set on gold in Tokyo 2020. One more gold will take her to total to seven golds, 10 overall and make her undoubtedly the greatest female track athlete of all time.
Dave Fraser
18. Virat Kohli
On Christmas Eve 2009, Virat Kohli replaced the great Sachin Tendulkar at the crease and went on to score his first international century as India beat Sri Lanka in a one-day international in Kolkata. Gautam Gambhir may have taken the headlines with an unbeaten 150 that night but this was Kohli serving notice for what was to come in the next decade.
He would not be kept in the shadows for long.
In the 10 years since, Kohli has established himself as the standout batsman of his generation across all three formats, averaging more than 50 in Tests (54.97), ODIs (60.31) and T20Is (51.26) and amassing a further 69 international hundreds – 27 in Tests and 42 ODIs.
By comparison, Steve Smith has scored 34 internationals tons this decade, level with Kane Williamson, while Joe Root has managed 33. Even among the other members of the ‘fab four’, no one gets close to Kohli.
Rather than be weighed down by carrying the hopes of a cricket-obsessed nation, Kohli seems to thrive on it and with each eye-catchingly elegant innings, each exuberant celebration of a wicket or bit of brilliance in the field, his legend grows.
A World Cup winner in 2011, the first India captain to lead his side to a Test-series victory in Australia as well as taking them to the top of the Test rankings and winning all nine home series since taking charge, the Delhi-born batsman has had success wherever he has gone.
Even when he has struggled, as he did in England in 2014, Kohli has responded in emphatic fashion. He scored four hundreds a few months later on India’s next tour, in Australia, and when they returned to England in 2018, he scored just shy of 600 runs in 10 innings, including two tons.
“I don't think it's in his nature to sit back and say: ‘That's as good as I can be,’” said Michael Atherton. “That is really what separates the best from the rest - that constant desire to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible. You see that in his behaviour and his manner out in the middle. He's never satisfied.”
That insatiable desire to keep on improving that has brought Kohli to this once unthinkable position, a position where Tendulkar is no longer the automatic answer to the question ‘who is India’s greatest ever player?’
‘The Little Master’ may still have the edge but even after a decade of dominance, ‘King Kohli’ is not done yet.
Sam Drury
17. Ronda Rousey
The first woman to fight in the UFC, after president Dana White infamously U-turned on claiming it would never happen, remains one of mixed martial arts’ flagship faces and a trailblazer for females in sport.
Her accomplishments inside the octagon were matched by her fame outside of it – during 2014 and 2015, in particular, she was a staple on magazine covers and chat shows, simultaneously making her mark in Hollywood while bending the arms of her challengers into grotesque positions.
Rousey became an icon of female empowerment because she was literally throwing opponents over her head while becoming the biggest crossover star (until usurped by Conor McGregor) that the UFC had ever produced.
She was, for example, the first woman to grace the cover of Men’s Fitness then caused a storm by becoming the first MMA fighter on the cover of The Ring, a boxing magazine. She claimed she would whup Floyd Mayweather and the internet went berserk – here was a successful, tough female not afraid to speak her mind and capable of backing up her big talk.
Sport began quietly for Rousey at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 where she won a bronze medal. Her mother had previously been the first American judo world champion in a sport traditionally dominated by eastern countries. She was from tough stock and, disillusioned with judo, found MMA when it still a burgeoning sport.
She was a natural and her first four opponents were blown away in a combined two minutes and 18 seconds.
At Rousey’s peak she was compared to Mike Tyson for her ferocity and unbeatable aura – three title challengers to her inaugural women’s bantamweight title were beaten in 16 seconds, 34 seconds and 14 seconds consecutively.
Suddenly she ran into Holly Holm, a fight that transcended into the mainstream, and lost shockingly by knockout. Her downfall was as quick as her descent – a year in the wilderness was followed by a comeback against Amanda Nunes which she also lost. Rousey never returned to the UFC and currently competes in the WWE.
The legacy she left was for snatching the key to the door of the most brutal sport around for fellow females. Women in the UFC continue to boom, often headlining above men, made possible by ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey.
James Dielhenn
16. Marta
Women’s football depends on you to survive,” said Marta, speaking directly into the camera with tears in her eyes immediately after Brazil were knocked out of last summer’s World Cup by France in Le Havre.
At 33, she had just missed her last chance to win the biggest trophy in the game. It was telling, though, that despite the immense personal disappointment she must have been feeling, she immediately used her platform to issue an impassioned rallying cry to the next generation of Brazilian players.
“We're asking for support,” she added. “You have to cry at the beginning and smile at the end. It's about wanting more, it's about training more, it's about looking after yourself more, it's about being ready to play 90 minutes and then 30 minutes more. So that's why I am asking the girls. There's not going to be a Formiga forever, there's not going to be a Marta forever, there's not going to be a Cristiane."
Earlier in the tournament, in Brazil’s group game against Italy in Valenciennes, Marta had scored her 17th World Cup goal, placing her above Miroslav Klose and her compatriot Ronaldo at the top of the tournament’s all-time scoring charts. As in Le Havre, though, her priority immediately afterwards was not on her own achievements but on the bigger picture.
"The feeling is a joyful one, not only for breaking the record but for being able to represent women in doing so,” she said. "We are trying to represent women and show how women can play any type of role. All the teams here, we are all representing [women]. Let me be clear, this is not only in sport. This is a struggle for equality across the board."
Few have done more in that struggle for equality than Marta. It is her extraordinary skill and goalscoring ability that marked her out as such a special player, helping her win six world player of the year awards, score 107 goals in 151 international appearances and claim club silverware in Brazil, America and Europe. But her legacy will extend well beyond her achievements on the pitch.
Nick Wright
15. Michael van Gerwen
On January 3, 2010, Phil Taylor won his 15th World Championship title and as the 2000s become the 2010s, the sport of darts was wondering when someone would emerge to challenge The Power.
Taylor would go on to claim one more World Championship in a decade that saw Adrian Lewis win the first two (2011, 2012) and Gary Anderson also claim a pair (2015, 2016) but one man has claimed three. The brilliant Michael van Gerwen, whose Ally Pally triumphs have come in the last six editions as he threatens the sort of dominance Taylor presided over.
MVG’s inaugural win in 2014 – a year after losing to Taylor in the final - saw him become the youngest player to win the PDC World Championship, two years after his major breakthrough at the 2012 World Grand Prix.
Thirty-four more ‘major’ titles have followed - most recently at the Players Championship Finals in November. In an era that has seen darts become more professional than ever, with tournaments every week, from Pro Tour to European Tour to the premier TV events, MVG has been the man to beat.
He has won 19 of his last 20 ‘major’ finals, and the Champions League win in October saw him become the first man to have won every available TV title. For good measure he has 15 World Series titles and three World Cups alongside Raymond van Barneveld in the Pairs format. Records have tumbled too, not least the 123.4 world record TV average he recorded in a 2016 Premier League match against Michael Smith.
Van Gerwen not only succeeded Taylor as world champion in 2014, but also took the world No 1 spot from the Stoke legend – and has now surpassed his rival with the longest unbroken spot at the top of the rankings.
Not only the leader on the oche, Van Gerwen is also the greatest ambassador for the sport, and his work with the Junior Darts Corporation to inspire the next generation of players is an example of his commitment to the whole of darts.
Fittingly he is finishing the decade on a high. In February he overtook Taylor’s record of 70 Pro Tour titles and he stands behind only Taylor in the all-time list. Aged just 30, the frightening thing is he may just be getting started.
Paul Prenderville
14. Chris Froome
Chris Froome began the decade as a relative unknown, an under-performing squad member at the newly formed Team Sky and looked set to be released from the squad by mid-2011.
Ten years later he is recognised as the greatest Grand Tour rider of his generation and a four-time Tour de France champion.
Froome has produced standout performances in the mountain ranges of France, Spain and Italy, with his epic 80km solo raid at the 2018 Giro d'Italia considered one of the best individual efforts ever seen in the sport.
After making headlines in controversial style during the 2012 Tour as an at-times reluctant helper for winner Bradley Wiggins, Froome has stepped forward to become the man to beat in the three-week Grand Tours.
He held all three of the coveted titles simultaneously with his 2018 Giro triumph and has honed his all-round skills to out-climb, out-time-trial and out-descend his rivals.
In 2019, he was awarded the 2011 Vuelta a Espana, due to the disqualification of the original winner for doping offences. Froome was denied the chance to celebrate becoming the first British Grand Tour winner at the time but, eight years on, the decision took his Grand Tour haul to a remarkable seven titles. Only the hallowed, historic trio of Eddy Merckx (11), Bernard Hinault (10) and Jacques Anquetil (eight) have more.
There have been crashes and controversies along the way; Froome’s 2014 and 2018 Tour tilts were hit by injuries, while an 'adverse analytical finding' for an asthma drug in 2017 intensified the scrutiny and roadside abuse. Froome was eventually cleared in July 2018.
Perhaps the standout image of Froome in this decade will be him running up Mont Ventoux after a crash in 2016 – a bizarre moment but one that typified his determination to win and never-say-die attitude.
That episode will be replayed for years to come but Froome remains focused on the future – despite a dramatic 2019.
A huge crash in June left the 34-year-old with a fractured leg, elbow and ribs. A complete comeback from that would rank among his greatest achievements. But Froome's sights are set on a fifth yellow jersey win in 2020, which would make him the joint-most successful Tour rider in history.
After this remarkable decade, you would not bet against him pulling off another incredible feat.
Peter Smith
13. Richie McCaw
Still the only player in history to have captained his country to two Rugby World Cup successes, New Zealand All Black Richie McCaw lifted the Webb Ellis Trophy twice in this decade: 2011 and 2015 – the latter in the final rugby appearance of his career.
The openside flanker also left the game as the sport’s most capped player of all time, having featured on an incredible 148 occasions for the All Blacks, while McCaw began the decade by clinching the World Rugby Player of the Year award in 2010.
A master of the dark arts, his breakdown skills, work-rate and general intelligence on a rugby pitch was of the highest quality.
In addition to World Cup glory, McCaw lifted Tri Nations/Rugby Championship titles with New Zealand in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014 in this decade, while he was also part of an All Black squad which completed a perfect year in 2013: winning all 14 Tests from 14.
The zenith of McCaw’s career though, and one of the standout moments in the glorious history of All Black rugby, came at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
With New Zealand having lifted the inaugural tournament in 1987 on home soil, the nation had consistently failed to clinch rugby’s greatest prize again over the preceding two decades, despite being tournament favourites for the majority of that period, causing pressure to swell year-on-year.
World Cup semi-final defeats came in 1991 and 2003 to Australia, 1999 to France, they lost in the final to South Africa in 1995 and in the quarters to France in 2007.
By the time 2011 rolled around, with the World Cup brought back to Kiwi shores for the first time since that 1987 victory, pressure was near unbearable.
McCaw had been a part of the squads to fall at the 2003 and 2007 World Cups – the latter as skipper. He was tasked with leading his nation again four years later.
Victories over Argentina and Australia booked a final place, and a meeting with France – who the All Blacks had already beaten in the pool stages, and who had lost to Tonga – marking New Zealand as monumental favourites and increasing expectations exponentially for the Eden Park final.
Despite a nervous performance, New Zealand sealed a contentious 8-7 victory in Auckland, with McCaw lifting the World Cup and ending 24 years of Kiwi hurt.
Four years later, McCaw again captained New Zealand at the World Cup, this time as part of arguably the greatest ever side to win a Rugby World Cup.
The All Blacks swept all before them, beating Argentina, France, South Africa and Australia en route to a dominant and fabulous success at Twickenham, allowing McCaw the perfect goodbye.
Michael Cantillon
12. Katie Taylor
Katie Taylor would dress as a boy when she was younger, to be allowed into Ireland’s boxing gyms. It was a different time.
Two decades later she is celebrated as a pioneer laden in gold from the Olympics and professional boxing after a peerless career that shows no signs of slowing down yet.
She was not the first (she credits Jane Couch, among others, as inspiration) but Taylor has kicked in the door of acceptance like nobody before her. She has boxed, and won, at a higher level than her predecessors and on a bigger platform.
She represented the Republic of Ireland’s football team 11 times but boxing was her true calling – she conquered the amateur mountain by winning five consecutive world championships spanning eight years. Suddenly the Olympics welcomed female boxers for the first time at London 2012 and although Nicola Adams was the first ever gold medallist (simply because her final fight came before Taylor’s), the Irish lightweight also became a champion a few days later on the same iconic stage. She flew home to Ireland to a heroine’s reception.
Four years later she was eliminated from the Rio Olympics at a surprisingly early stage but, under promoter Eddie Hearn, launched a professional career that has yielded 15 wins without defeat, every major championship at lightweight and most recently the WBO super-lightweight title.
Softly-spoken and a woman of faith outside the ropes, she becomes a thrill to watch inside the ring – technically excellent with speed and skill but, intriguingly, the will to be dragged into a dogfight. Her brawl with Delfine Persoon in New York this year was one of the best women’s boxing matches ever and a rematch will surely be on the cards at some point.
The year 2020 promises a lot for Taylor because there are other female boxers who believe themselves to be the best. Amanda Serrano is a seven-weight world champion while Cecilia Braekhus is, like Taylor, an undisputed champion. These are scores that must be settled for Taylor, who is now 33, before her boxing journey comes to an eventual end.
Her accolades stand up alongside the elite of men’s boxing but, tellingly, because of Taylor no young girl will have to dress as a boy to enter a boxing gym again.
James Dielhenn
11. Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time having won an incredible 28 medals (23 gold, three silver and two bronze) over five Olympic games.
Two of those Games and a dozen of those medals – including nine golds – have been grasped in the last 10 years. The first decade of this century may have seen him land more titles, but the second decade has served to cement his legacy.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics belonged to Phelps as he claimed eight golds from eight events and by the time London 2012 came around, Phelps was still at the top of his game. He claimed four gold medals and two silver. This brought his total Olympic medal count to 22 – beating the previous record of 18 held by Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina.
After London 2012, Phelps announced his retirement, but it did not last long as he came storming back to qualify for a record fifth Olympics. Sixteen years after his first, Phelps went to Rio and added six more medals to his trophy cabinet with five gold and one silver, including gold in the 200-metere individual medley — becoming the first swimmer to win four consecutive golds in the same event.
Since retirement, Phelps has dedicated time to raising awareness of mental health – an issue which promoted his first break from the sport in 2012.
“Being an athlete you’re supposed to be this strong person who doesn’t have weaknesses, doesn’t have any problems,” he told Time Magazine. “No, that’s wrong. I struggle through problems just like everybody else does. I wanted to open up and just talk about it. It is what makes me who I am.”
Phelps’ talent has shone across two decades now and while he may not be in the pool in Tokyo in 2020, his impact continues to be felt.
Julian Crabtree
10. Simone Biles
Fittingly for a woman born in the town of Spring, Simone Biles has taken the world of gymnastics to a wider audience than ever before with her jaw-dropping routines regularly making the impossible seem possible.
By the age of 22, she has 35 medals in global events, 27 of them gold.
It’s never a surprise to see a Biles routine - on the floor, the vault, the beam or uneven bars – going viral and having not even entered her teenage years when the decade began, she has dominated the years that have followed her emergence.
Biles rose through the domestic circuit and was called-up to the US Gymnastics squad in 2013, starting as she was to go on; performing never-before-seen signature moves and winning gold medals.
A trailblazer as well as a relentless winning machine, she became the first African-American to win the all-around title at the World Championship in 2013. By the age of 19 she had won more World Championship gold medals than any other gymnast in history – a tally she has now taken to 19 following five more titles in Stuttgart earlier this year.
Having only just missed out on the Olympics in 2012, Biles set about making her mark at the 2016 Summer Games. On debut, aged just 19 and in front of a global audience of millions, she claimed five medals in Rio de Janeiro including four golds. The world eagerly awaits Tokyo in 2020.
As well as her standing as one of the very best her sport has produced, Biles has crossed into the mainstream. Winner of the Laureus world sportswoman of the year twice in the last three years, she has a trail of lucrative sponsorship deals underlining her global status which was cemented with the 2019 Game Changer award from People’s Choice.
There have been dark times. Times that were revealed in her 2018 Twitter revelation that saw her join America’s #MeToo movement. She was one of many USA Gymnastics athletes to allege she had been sexually assaulted by USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. Nassar was later sentenced to between 40 and 175 years in prison, while Biles and her fellow survivors were awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
Biles’ story and sport may have gone under the radar in the past, but it is a testament to the times in which we now live that both have been told and her excellence celebrated.
Paul Prenderville
9. LeBron James
LeBron James’ triumphs and tribulations have defined the NBA through the last decade.
No player can match James’ 2010s resume of three NBA titles, three Finals MVP awards, three regular-season MVPs and permanent places on the All-NBA and All-Star teams. Given his status as the NBA’s most recognised figure around the world, it seems odd to recall James began the decade as a villain whose ability to bring a title to his team was routinely questioned.
James’ 2010 decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to “take his talents to South Beach” made him a hated figure. But forming a ‘superteam’ with his superstar friends Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami emphatically answered the critics who said ‘The King’ could not lead a team to a championship.
The Heat reached four successive Finals from 2011 to 2014, winning two titles. James took home the Finals MVP award both times. After the San Antonio Spurs denied the Heat a ‘three-peat’ of titles in 2014, James returned to Cleveland with the promise of delivering a championship for his hometown team. With the help of Kyrie Irving’s clutch Game 7 shooting, he made good on his word as the Cavaliers overturned a 3-1 deficit to win the 2016 Finals. Once again, he took home the Finals MVP award.
In total, James took the Cavaliers to four straight Finals in his second stint in Cleveland. When the overmatched Cavaliers were swept by the Golden State Warriors in the 2018 Finals, it was time for a new challenge. After eight straight Eastern Conference titles (four with Miami, four with Cleveland) James headed west to join the Los Angeles Lakers.
LeBron’s first year in purple and gold was ruined by injury and a lop-sided Lakers roster. He did not reach the playoffs for the first time since the 2004-05 season. This season, benefitting from the first extended summer break of his career and with a retooled supporting cast led by Anthony Davis, the now 35-year-old James has returned in full force. He leads the league in assists, is scoring 25 points a game and is part of the MVP conversation after leading the Lakers to the Western Conference’s best record.
As 2020 approaches, there is no sign of him letting up and no reason to suspect he will not be able to bring an NBA title to LA.
Lee Harvey
8. Tom Brady
Heading into this decade, Tom Brady was already a three-time Super Bowl winner and established as one of the NFL’s finest quarterbacks and most successful players. In the 10 years since, he has gone on to become a legend of the game and arguably the greatest of all time.
Brady’s decade actually started with disappointment - a playoff first-round exit followed by a second straight Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants. How did he respond? With seven straight AFC Championship appearances, three more Vince Lombardi trophies, and another appearance in the big game, albeit a defeat.
Since 2010, he has started every single game for the Patriots minus a four-game suspension in 2016. 153 regular-season games, 120 wins. Plus a 16-6 record in the playoffs. Whether it was Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, or a receiver New England picked up off the street days before a game, Brady has brought out the best in his surrounding playmakers.
Even without weapons around him - and at times a complete lack of running game - Brady has been able to excel due to his outstanding smarts, understanding of opposing defenses and insane competitiveness. Whether he could have the same success without Hall of Fame coach Bill Belichick will always be questioned, but the fact is: time after time, year after year, Brady has come up big when mattered.
The overtime drive against Kansas City last season. The crazy fourth quarter against the Jaguars in 2017. The iconic 25-point comeback - largest in Super Bowl history that earned Brady his record-setting fourth Super Bowl MVP award - to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. Brady’s decade is littered with memorable, jaw-dropping moments. Statistically, he has put himself high in the record books in every major category - and he’s still doing it at 42 years old!
His 316 touchdown passes in this decade alone would put him in the top 12 of all-time for that category. He stands alone with the most seasons of at least 20 TDs in NFL history (17) - and he has achieved that feat in every season this decade.
Ultimately, when we look back on Brady’s career, this decade took it to the next level. He has the most Super Bowl wins (six) and appearances (nine). He will finish his career with the most regular-season wins and playoff wins (by a mile).
The NFL will miss Tom Brady when he finally decides to hang it up.
James Simpson
7. Usain Bolt
When the Olympic Games roll round every four years, the focus in this country falls on the exploits of Team GB, with the exception of a few global megastars. Front and centre of those megastars is Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who has dominated Olympic athletics like no other.
Having announced himself with golds over 100m and 200m in 2008, Bolt entered the decade fresh from world records in both disciplines at the 2009 World Championships. It’s easy to forget, but when London 2012 came around, there were doubts about whether he would dominate again. A false start in the 100m at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu cost him, and he lost in Jamaican qualifiers to Yohan Blake ahead of the London Games. Many thought the younger man would dethrone Bolt - but that was never going to happen.
The 6ft5in icon blew away the competition, claiming three golds with his casual demeanour and elements of showboating within races marking him out not just as a legendary athlete but a true entertainer - the kind that only graces a sport once in a generation.
After cleaning up with hat-tricks of gold medals at the World Championships of 2013 and 2015, Bolt then did it all again - this time with fewer doubters - at Rio 2016. What he has done for athletics cannot be underestimated - and not just because his performances have been groundbreaking.
Until this year, nine of the 30 fastest 100m times ever were recorded by Bolt, with the other 21 all by athletes with doping convictions. Christian Coleman broke into that top 30 this year and, though he has no doping convictions, he was charged by USADA for missing three doping tests - although the charge was dropped in September.
In a sport where the shadow of doping hangs over many, Bolt has stood alone as a beacon of fair play, saying when he retired: “If you go out of your way to cheat to be a better athlete... you should get life bans. I’ve proven to the world you can do it. You can be great without doping, that’s one of the things I want to preach to the younger kids.”
His 100m and 200m world records were both set in the previous decade, but the time of 36.84 he set alongside Yohan Blake, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater at London 2012’s 4x100m relay remains the fastest ever.
His medal haul for the decade is six Olympic golds, eight World Championship golds and one bronze from when he bowed out, not fully fit, at London 2017. Now that takes some beating.
James Phillips
6. Novak Djokovic
Since 2010, Novak Djokovic has been the dominant force in men's tennis, winning a remarkable 62 ATP tournaments. He is relentless in his pursuit of greatness. His extreme elasticity, combined with his steely determination to win at all costs makes him the ultimate competitor.
In the past 10 years Djokovic has won six Australian Open titles, five Wimbledon crowns, three US Open titles and one French Open in 2016. He holds 16 Grand Slam titles in total and at 32 he could conceivably overtake both Rafael Nadal (19) and Roger Federer (20) by the time he calls time on his career.
He became world No 1 for the first time in July 2011 and held that position in a long stretch from July 2014 until October 2016. Djokovic held top spot as recently as October 2019 and he has Pete Sampras (286 weeks) and all-time record-holder Roger Federer (310 weeks) firmly in his sights. He went 80-38 against top-five players during this decade and 10-5 against No 1-ranked players.
Djokovic, who has spoken of his desire to end his career as the statistically most successful player in history, has also won 29 Masters 1000 titles as well as four end-of-season ATP Finals crowns in London. He's arguably the greatest hard-court player of all time, and the last 10 years has shown us exactly why, winning 45 out of those 62 titles on his favourite surface.
As well as becoming Laureus world sportsman of the year in 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2019, Djokovic has also addressed the United Nations on behalf of world athletes proclaiming April 6 as the International Day of Sports for Peace and Development.
Djokovic's face can be seen plastered all over huge billboards around his home city of Belgrade. The man is seen as a god in his homeland who has put Serbia on the map in the world of sport. Olympic gold is one of the only prestigious prizes in tennis that has escaped the Serb. He will aim to end that drought in Tokyo next year.
Raz Mirza
5. Floyd Mayweather
The first 40 fights of Floyd Mayweather’s infamous 50-0 winning record came prior to 2010 – he is a modern great in two separate decades.
‘Pretty Boy Floyd’ defeated Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton pre-2010 but this decade saw his ‘Money Mayweather’ alter-ego come to the fore. He was rarely liked but never beaten, dominating at the box office and inside the ring to cement his status as an all-time great.
The reason he is among the great sportspeople of this decade is because he elevated boxing onto a bigger platform through his star power. Beating Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez was just the start. He picked the precise moment to face the talented Mexican who went on to become a superstar in his own right – this was a trademark of Mayweather’s authority. He fought on his terms in negotiations and inside the ropes.
Finally ‘The Fight of the Century’ took place. Mayweather and arch-rival Manny Pacquiao had been on a collision course for years and their 2015 meeting may have come too late, but it remains a historic moment, not least for its money-spinning record-breaking. Mayweather won at a canter.
Somehow he upped the ante again by fighting UFC star Conor McGregor two years ago. It was a spectacle and an extravaganza between two loudmouth entertainers but, once again, inside the ring it was all Mayweather. He won for the 50th time without loss, breaking the legendary Rocky Marciano’s record.
Of course, he laughed all the way to the bank. Forbes estimated that, in one night, Mayweather eclipsed the combined earnings in 2017 of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and LeBron James. The dollars were part of the character, throughout this decade. Mayweather topped Forbes’ annual list of the highest-paid athletes four times in seven years (he has not been active for the past two years).
There were controversies too, though, most notably a jail sentence that was delayed so he could fit in an extra fight. Some of the language used in the build-up to his fight with McGregor courted criticism. His longevity, the dollar bills and his undefeated career are what will define Mayweather – and can you ever really rule out a 51st fight?
James Dielhenn
4. Lionel Messi
On January 10, 2010, Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick for Barcelona in a 5-0 win over Tenerife. His third goal – an audacious, first-time chip over goalkeeper Sergio Aragoneses – was so good it prompted applause from the opposition fans. It was Messi’s first La Liga appearance of the decade and, looking back, it was a good indicator of what was to come.
In fact, only a few weeks ago, Messi drew a similar reaction from Atletico Madrid fans at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium. Even Diego Simeone, the Atletico manager, could not help but applaud his sensational winner. “With a great goal like that,” Simeone said afterwards, “it’s all you can do.”
This is just what Messi does to people. His brilliance transcends fandom. Even at 32, he reaches the end of the decade just as potent as he was at the start of it. Indeed, since that winner at Atletico Madrid, there has been yet another hat-trick – this time against Mallorca – which took his goal tally for the decade to a scarcely believable total of 521 in 518 appearances.
There is nobody in sport – let alone in football – who can claim to be operating so consistently at such a staggeringly high level. Earlier this month, Messi won the Ballon d’Or for the fifth time in 10 years, making him the first player in history to win it six times in total. In terms of club silverware, the decade has yielded six La Liga title wins, two Champions Leagues and more than a dozen other trophies.
There will always be those who claim he cannot be considered truly great until he wins a major international trophy, but the circumstances with Argentina have not helped him. In the last decade, they have had six different managers. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, by contrast, have only had two. The lack of stability has hurt Messi’s prospects, but his international record does not define him.
What defines him is his unrivalled genius on the pitch. Messi is not just a scorer of great goals but a provider of them too. In the last 10 years, in addition to the 521 goals he has scored himself, there have been 191 assists. Messi can do it all – and do all of it better than anyone else on the planet. It is why football fans from all over the world continue to make the pilgrimage to the Camp Nou. And it is why his achievements over the last decade will be cherished long after he is gone.
Nick Wright
3. Cristiano Ronaldo
Back in 2010, Cristiano Ronaldo was a Champions League winner with a Ballon d’Or to his name and a career at Manchester United already behind him. A star at the start of the decade, he ends it as a football icon. Ronaldo has become a byword for sustained excellence. A man obsessed with maximising his talent. Both bully and big-game player.
Between 2012 and 2018, Ronaldo was the top scorer in the Champions League for six consecutive seasons. His Real Madrid side won the competition in four of them, ending the long wait for La Decima before becoming the first team to retain the trophy, and then going one better by winning it for a third time in a row. Ronaldo’s heroics were a regular feature.
He scored in two of the finals. Netted in the shootout in another. The one final in which he did not score was in 2018, but his bicycle kick against Juventus in the quarter-final that season was one of the great Champions League goals. Now he is banging them in for the Italian champions instead – scoring a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid earlier this year.
Winning a league title in a third different country is something Ronaldo’s biggest admirers will highlight as a point of differential with his great rival Lionel Messi. There is another. While the Argentine was unable to add any international honours for his country, Ronaldo captained Portugal to an unexpected victory at the 2016 European Championships.
He actually went off injured early on in the final against hosts France – having to settle for impromptu coaching duties on the touchline. But his role in taking Portugal so far was huge, twice drawing level in the group stages against Hungary when defeat would have consigned his country to an early exit. He broke the deadlock in the semi-final win over Wales too.
Ronaldo has since led Portugal to Nations League success in 2019 and finishes the decade with 99 international goals to his name. He will surely become the first European to bring up his century in the spring. Now approaching 35, it seems unlikely he will add to his five Ballons d’Or in the next decade. But this one assuredly belonged to Cristiano Ronaldo.
Adam Bate
2. Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton’s sixth world title in 2019 – and fifth this decade – arrived 11 years after his first, forming the longest arch of world championship victories in Formula 1’s history.
It’s a telling statistic and even more so when aligned with the two teams of his career, the McLaren years (2007-12) and those at Mercedes (2013-present). Only one of his titles came in his six seasons at McLaren. The other five have been won in his seven Mercedes years.
There is no question the technical advantages he has enjoyed at Mercedes in the hybrid era of F1 have been the cornerstone of his spectacular career statistics. By comparison, he enjoyed McLarens that ranged from good (2007-08) through poor (2009) to reasonably competitive but behind the cutting edge represented by Red Bull (2010-12).
Yet even in his McLaren years he was widely hailed as ‘F1’s fastest driver’ even if there was a more split opinion on whether he was ‘the best’. Those making the case he was merely the fastest would usually cite Fernando Alonso as the most complete.
After clinching that last-gasp 2008 title (having narrowly missed out on becoming the first rookie champion in the sport’s history the year before) and being thwarted by the initially hopeless 2009 McLaren, Hamilton’s next four seasons were spent taking opportunistic advantage of the rare days Sebastian Vettel was not in dominant form in Adrian Newey’s Red Bulls.
During those four seasons (2010-13) of Red Bull domination, Hamilton won only as many races as he took in 2019 alone and it looked feasible Hamilton’s career stats never would quite match his accepted stature within the sport. The statistically dominant driver of Hamilton’s era looked set to be Vettel, a situation Hamilton at times seemed almost resigned to.
But at the end of 2012 he made an off-track move arguably more spectacular even than those he was making on-track as he left McLaren for the hitherto unsuccessful Mercedes team, where he replaced Michael Schumacher, whose comeback had fallen short of expectations.
Although Hamilton won only one race there in 2013, it was the new-for-2014 hybrid formula that was the big focus of the team and its massive investment – and has been the foundation of his blockbusting success since.
As the fastest driver in the fastest car, the sport has rather surrendered itself to him, only a couple of key mechanical problems in 2016 keeping him from a clean sweep of all the hybrid era titles.
He now comfortably leads Vettel in the all the official records of achievement and his challenges going forward look set to be coming from the new generation, as personified by Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, guys 12-13 years his junior.
Mark Hughes
1. Serena Williams
Tennis Queen Serena Williams not only dominated the women's game in the 2000s but she has continued to lead the way on the international sporting landscape as a mother, icon, and leader.
She has collected 12 of her 23 Grand Slam titles after 2010, last winning a major title at the Australian Open in 2017, while being eight-weeks pregnant. Williams has also been runner-up in seven major finals and despite being stuck on 23 Grand Slams, the 38-year-old is proof age is just a number as she continues to try and equal Margaret Court's all-time record.
Injury and illness has played a part of Williams' past 10 years, although she continues to defy logic by battling back. She has finished as world No 1 in six out of the last 10 years, dropping outside of the top 10 just once during that time.
Williams, who has been coached by Patrick Mouratoglou for the past seven years, has also completed the career 'Golden Slam' by holding all four majors as well as Olympics singles gold. Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf and Rafael Nadal are the only other players to have done it. The irresistible Williams also completed her second 'Serena Slam' (winning all four Grand Slams in a row) by winning the 2015 Wimbledon title against Garbine Muguruza.
Her rivalry with older sister Venus is the stuff of legend. Serena currently leads the series 18-12, but her dominance over Maria Sharapova is arguably the most storied rivalry in women's tennis. The American is 20-2 up with the Russian last beating her old foe way back at the back end of 2004.
Away from the tennis court, Williams went through extensive complications after giving birth of her daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr in September 2017 and was bedridden for six weeks. "I almost died after giving birth to my daughter, Olympia," Williams revealed in an interview with Vogue.
Just two months later Williams and her partner Alexis Ohanian tied the knot. "Alexis doesn't dim my light. He doesn't try to dim my light," she explained to Allure. "He puts me in the light, even if I don't want to be. He pushes me to further points I never thought about."
Serena continues to prove her stunning resilience, fighting spirit, and winning mentality at the highest level. She has always maintained she will not quit the game until Roger Federer retires first. One thing is for sure, we are privileged to have watched Williams dominate the women's landscape in a golden era of tennis.
Raz Mirza
Rory McIlroy began the 2010s billed as the man most likely to replace Tiger Woods as the dominant force in golf and, halfway through the decade, those lofty expectations appeared to be not far short of the mark.
Already a winner on the European Tour, McIlroy left a world-class field trailing in his wake when, shortly before his 21st birthday, he fired an astonishing final-day 62 which propelled him to a four-shot win at the Wells Fargo Championship.
His performance at Quail Hollow prompted many to make outlandish predictions of multiple majors, although he would endure near-misses at The Open and the PGA before putting himself on course for a Green Jacket at the 2011 Masters after an imperious first 54 holes.
However, his infamous Sunday meltdown ignited fears over his ability to get over the line in the majors. But, just two months later, his response to the doubters was swift and clinical.
McIlroy set records galore with his eight-shot triumph at the US Open, although he would have to wait until the 2012 PGA Championship to double his major tally – again by eight shots - and McIlroy would end the year as the leading money winner on both the PGA and European Tours.
A much-publicised change of equipment the following year resulted in a reversal of fortunes and he managed only one win worldwide – in December at the Australian Open – but a disappointing 2013 campaign was largely forgotten as he enjoyed a golden 2014.
His followed his win at the BMW PGA Championship with a first Open success at Hoylake, his first WGC title, and then a second Wanamaker Trophy before he again played a key role in a European Ryder Cup victory.
McIlroy was denied the chance to defend his Open title by an ill-timed ankle injury, by which time he was playing second-fiddle to the rapidly-emerging Jordan Spieth, although he did win the Race to Dubai for the third time in four seasons.
After more major frustration in 2016, McIlroy won his first FedExCup in thrilling style at the Tour Championship, but it would be another 19 months before he lifted any more silverware as he was troubled by niggling injuries throughout 2017.
His win at Bay Hill proved his only success of 2018, but McIlroy would end the decade as he began it – knocking on the door of world No 1 status after collecting four big victories including a memorable first win at The Players Championship.
McIlroy chased down Brooks Koepka to win the Tour Championship and his second FedExCup crown, and his third WGC title followed in Shanghai to leave him heading into the next decade with the same hope, confidence and optimism that he had in 2009.
Now 30 years old, McIlroy is still regarded by most as the best player on the planet, but he will start the 2020 Masters without a major to his name in over five-and-a-half years. If he can finally conquer his Augusta demons, he could yet fulfil the expectations of 10 years ago and cement his place among the genuine legends of golf.
Keith Jackson
19. Allyson Felix
The last 10 years have seen American sprinter Allyson Felix cement her place as one of the all-time greatest athletes. During that time, she has won five Olympic gold medals, five world championship gold medals and has become the most decorated track athlete of all time.
The Los Angeles-born sprinter opened up 2010 with gold in the 4x100m at the World Indoor Championships in Doha before adding gold in both relays at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Felix also won bronze and silver in the 200m and 400m, respectively.
However, it was at the London 2012 Olympic Games where she had her most successful championships.
Opting to race the 100m and 200m sprint double, she opened her Olympics with fifth in the 100m, despite running a personal best of 10.89 seconds. That was followed by gold in the 200m and gold in both relays to become the first American woman to win three golds in athletics at an Olympics since Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.
Her first major gold over 400m came at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing where she ran a personal best of 49.26 in the final. In doing so, Felix became the first woman to win world titles in the 200m and the 400m. She would also win silver medals in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics she fell agonisingly short of adding the Olympic title to her world title, beaten into silver by a mere 0.07 seconds by Shaunae Miller of Bahamas. She recovered from that disappointment, though, to win golds in 4×100m and 4×400m relays. It took her overall Olympic haul to nine, six golds and three silvers, a total that matched the six silvers and three bronze medals held by Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey.
She added three more medals at the World Championships in London in 2017, finishing third in the 400m but once again won gold in both the relays for the USA. Those three gold medals in London made her the most decorated athlete in World Championship history, but she was not finished there.
After giving birth to her daughter Camryn in 2018, she returned to the track the following year for her eighth World Championships in Doha. She won her 12th and 13th world championship gold medals in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays and in winning gold in the mixed gender relay she surpassed Usain Bolt’s record for most gold medals in world athletics championship history.
As we head into a new decade, Felix will have her sights set on gold in Tokyo 2020. One more gold will take her to total to seven golds, 10 overall and make her undoubtedly the greatest female track athlete of all time.
Dave Fraser
18. Virat Kohli
On Christmas Eve 2009, Virat Kohli replaced the great Sachin Tendulkar at the crease and went on to score his first international century as India beat Sri Lanka in a one-day international in Kolkata. Gautam Gambhir may have taken the headlines with an unbeaten 150 that night but this was Kohli serving notice for what was to come in the next decade.
He would not be kept in the shadows for long.
In the 10 years since, Kohli has established himself as the standout batsman of his generation across all three formats, averaging more than 50 in Tests (54.97), ODIs (60.31) and T20Is (51.26) and amassing a further 69 international hundreds – 27 in Tests and 42 ODIs.
By comparison, Steve Smith has scored 34 internationals tons this decade, level with Kane Williamson, while Joe Root has managed 33. Even among the other members of the ‘fab four’, no one gets close to Kohli.
Rather than be weighed down by carrying the hopes of a cricket-obsessed nation, Kohli seems to thrive on it and with each eye-catchingly elegant innings, each exuberant celebration of a wicket or bit of brilliance in the field, his legend grows.
A World Cup winner in 2011, the first India captain to lead his side to a Test-series victory in Australia as well as taking them to the top of the Test rankings and winning all nine home series since taking charge, the Delhi-born batsman has had success wherever he has gone.
Even when he has struggled, as he did in England in 2014, Kohli has responded in emphatic fashion. He scored four hundreds a few months later on India’s next tour, in Australia, and when they returned to England in 2018, he scored just shy of 600 runs in 10 innings, including two tons.
“I don't think it's in his nature to sit back and say: ‘That's as good as I can be,’” said Michael Atherton. “That is really what separates the best from the rest - that constant desire to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible. You see that in his behaviour and his manner out in the middle. He's never satisfied.”
That insatiable desire to keep on improving that has brought Kohli to this once unthinkable position, a position where Tendulkar is no longer the automatic answer to the question ‘who is India’s greatest ever player?’
‘The Little Master’ may still have the edge but even after a decade of dominance, ‘King Kohli’ is not done yet.
Sam Drury
17. Ronda Rousey
The first woman to fight in the UFC, after president Dana White infamously U-turned on claiming it would never happen, remains one of mixed martial arts’ flagship faces and a trailblazer for females in sport.
Her accomplishments inside the octagon were matched by her fame outside of it – during 2014 and 2015, in particular, she was a staple on magazine covers and chat shows, simultaneously making her mark in Hollywood while bending the arms of her challengers into grotesque positions.
Rousey became an icon of female empowerment because she was literally throwing opponents over her head while becoming the biggest crossover star (until usurped by Conor McGregor) that the UFC had ever produced.
She was, for example, the first woman to grace the cover of Men’s Fitness then caused a storm by becoming the first MMA fighter on the cover of The Ring, a boxing magazine. She claimed she would whup Floyd Mayweather and the internet went berserk – here was a successful, tough female not afraid to speak her mind and capable of backing up her big talk.
Sport began quietly for Rousey at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 where she won a bronze medal. Her mother had previously been the first American judo world champion in a sport traditionally dominated by eastern countries. She was from tough stock and, disillusioned with judo, found MMA when it still a burgeoning sport.
She was a natural and her first four opponents were blown away in a combined two minutes and 18 seconds.
At Rousey’s peak she was compared to Mike Tyson for her ferocity and unbeatable aura – three title challengers to her inaugural women’s bantamweight title were beaten in 16 seconds, 34 seconds and 14 seconds consecutively.
Suddenly she ran into Holly Holm, a fight that transcended into the mainstream, and lost shockingly by knockout. Her downfall was as quick as her descent – a year in the wilderness was followed by a comeback against Amanda Nunes which she also lost. Rousey never returned to the UFC and currently competes in the WWE.
The legacy she left was for snatching the key to the door of the most brutal sport around for fellow females. Women in the UFC continue to boom, often headlining above men, made possible by ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey.
James Dielhenn
16. Marta
Women’s football depends on you to survive,” said Marta, speaking directly into the camera with tears in her eyes immediately after Brazil were knocked out of last summer’s World Cup by France in Le Havre.
At 33, she had just missed her last chance to win the biggest trophy in the game. It was telling, though, that despite the immense personal disappointment she must have been feeling, she immediately used her platform to issue an impassioned rallying cry to the next generation of Brazilian players.
“We're asking for support,” she added. “You have to cry at the beginning and smile at the end. It's about wanting more, it's about training more, it's about looking after yourself more, it's about being ready to play 90 minutes and then 30 minutes more. So that's why I am asking the girls. There's not going to be a Formiga forever, there's not going to be a Marta forever, there's not going to be a Cristiane."
Earlier in the tournament, in Brazil’s group game against Italy in Valenciennes, Marta had scored her 17th World Cup goal, placing her above Miroslav Klose and her compatriot Ronaldo at the top of the tournament’s all-time scoring charts. As in Le Havre, though, her priority immediately afterwards was not on her own achievements but on the bigger picture.
"The feeling is a joyful one, not only for breaking the record but for being able to represent women in doing so,” she said. "We are trying to represent women and show how women can play any type of role. All the teams here, we are all representing [women]. Let me be clear, this is not only in sport. This is a struggle for equality across the board."
Few have done more in that struggle for equality than Marta. It is her extraordinary skill and goalscoring ability that marked her out as such a special player, helping her win six world player of the year awards, score 107 goals in 151 international appearances and claim club silverware in Brazil, America and Europe. But her legacy will extend well beyond her achievements on the pitch.
Nick Wright
15. Michael van Gerwen
On January 3, 2010, Phil Taylor won his 15th World Championship title and as the 2000s become the 2010s, the sport of darts was wondering when someone would emerge to challenge The Power.
Taylor would go on to claim one more World Championship in a decade that saw Adrian Lewis win the first two (2011, 2012) and Gary Anderson also claim a pair (2015, 2016) but one man has claimed three. The brilliant Michael van Gerwen, whose Ally Pally triumphs have come in the last six editions as he threatens the sort of dominance Taylor presided over.
MVG’s inaugural win in 2014 – a year after losing to Taylor in the final - saw him become the youngest player to win the PDC World Championship, two years after his major breakthrough at the 2012 World Grand Prix.
Thirty-four more ‘major’ titles have followed - most recently at the Players Championship Finals in November. In an era that has seen darts become more professional than ever, with tournaments every week, from Pro Tour to European Tour to the premier TV events, MVG has been the man to beat.
He has won 19 of his last 20 ‘major’ finals, and the Champions League win in October saw him become the first man to have won every available TV title. For good measure he has 15 World Series titles and three World Cups alongside Raymond van Barneveld in the Pairs format. Records have tumbled too, not least the 123.4 world record TV average he recorded in a 2016 Premier League match against Michael Smith.
Van Gerwen not only succeeded Taylor as world champion in 2014, but also took the world No 1 spot from the Stoke legend – and has now surpassed his rival with the longest unbroken spot at the top of the rankings.
Not only the leader on the oche, Van Gerwen is also the greatest ambassador for the sport, and his work with the Junior Darts Corporation to inspire the next generation of players is an example of his commitment to the whole of darts.
Fittingly he is finishing the decade on a high. In February he overtook Taylor’s record of 70 Pro Tour titles and he stands behind only Taylor in the all-time list. Aged just 30, the frightening thing is he may just be getting started.
Paul Prenderville
14. Chris Froome
Chris Froome began the decade as a relative unknown, an under-performing squad member at the newly formed Team Sky and looked set to be released from the squad by mid-2011.
Ten years later he is recognised as the greatest Grand Tour rider of his generation and a four-time Tour de France champion.
Froome has produced standout performances in the mountain ranges of France, Spain and Italy, with his epic 80km solo raid at the 2018 Giro d'Italia considered one of the best individual efforts ever seen in the sport.
After making headlines in controversial style during the 2012 Tour as an at-times reluctant helper for winner Bradley Wiggins, Froome has stepped forward to become the man to beat in the three-week Grand Tours.
He held all three of the coveted titles simultaneously with his 2018 Giro triumph and has honed his all-round skills to out-climb, out-time-trial and out-descend his rivals.
In 2019, he was awarded the 2011 Vuelta a Espana, due to the disqualification of the original winner for doping offences. Froome was denied the chance to celebrate becoming the first British Grand Tour winner at the time but, eight years on, the decision took his Grand Tour haul to a remarkable seven titles. Only the hallowed, historic trio of Eddy Merckx (11), Bernard Hinault (10) and Jacques Anquetil (eight) have more.
There have been crashes and controversies along the way; Froome’s 2014 and 2018 Tour tilts were hit by injuries, while an 'adverse analytical finding' for an asthma drug in 2017 intensified the scrutiny and roadside abuse. Froome was eventually cleared in July 2018.
Perhaps the standout image of Froome in this decade will be him running up Mont Ventoux after a crash in 2016 – a bizarre moment but one that typified his determination to win and never-say-die attitude.
That episode will be replayed for years to come but Froome remains focused on the future – despite a dramatic 2019.
A huge crash in June left the 34-year-old with a fractured leg, elbow and ribs. A complete comeback from that would rank among his greatest achievements. But Froome's sights are set on a fifth yellow jersey win in 2020, which would make him the joint-most successful Tour rider in history.
After this remarkable decade, you would not bet against him pulling off another incredible feat.
Peter Smith
13. Richie McCaw
Still the only player in history to have captained his country to two Rugby World Cup successes, New Zealand All Black Richie McCaw lifted the Webb Ellis Trophy twice in this decade: 2011 and 2015 – the latter in the final rugby appearance of his career.
The openside flanker also left the game as the sport’s most capped player of all time, having featured on an incredible 148 occasions for the All Blacks, while McCaw began the decade by clinching the World Rugby Player of the Year award in 2010.
A master of the dark arts, his breakdown skills, work-rate and general intelligence on a rugby pitch was of the highest quality.
In addition to World Cup glory, McCaw lifted Tri Nations/Rugby Championship titles with New Zealand in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014 in this decade, while he was also part of an All Black squad which completed a perfect year in 2013: winning all 14 Tests from 14.
The zenith of McCaw’s career though, and one of the standout moments in the glorious history of All Black rugby, came at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
With New Zealand having lifted the inaugural tournament in 1987 on home soil, the nation had consistently failed to clinch rugby’s greatest prize again over the preceding two decades, despite being tournament favourites for the majority of that period, causing pressure to swell year-on-year.
World Cup semi-final defeats came in 1991 and 2003 to Australia, 1999 to France, they lost in the final to South Africa in 1995 and in the quarters to France in 2007.
By the time 2011 rolled around, with the World Cup brought back to Kiwi shores for the first time since that 1987 victory, pressure was near unbearable.
McCaw had been a part of the squads to fall at the 2003 and 2007 World Cups – the latter as skipper. He was tasked with leading his nation again four years later.
Victories over Argentina and Australia booked a final place, and a meeting with France – who the All Blacks had already beaten in the pool stages, and who had lost to Tonga – marking New Zealand as monumental favourites and increasing expectations exponentially for the Eden Park final.
Despite a nervous performance, New Zealand sealed a contentious 8-7 victory in Auckland, with McCaw lifting the World Cup and ending 24 years of Kiwi hurt.
Four years later, McCaw again captained New Zealand at the World Cup, this time as part of arguably the greatest ever side to win a Rugby World Cup.
The All Blacks swept all before them, beating Argentina, France, South Africa and Australia en route to a dominant and fabulous success at Twickenham, allowing McCaw the perfect goodbye.
Michael Cantillon
12. Katie Taylor
Katie Taylor would dress as a boy when she was younger, to be allowed into Ireland’s boxing gyms. It was a different time.
Two decades later she is celebrated as a pioneer laden in gold from the Olympics and professional boxing after a peerless career that shows no signs of slowing down yet.
She was not the first (she credits Jane Couch, among others, as inspiration) but Taylor has kicked in the door of acceptance like nobody before her. She has boxed, and won, at a higher level than her predecessors and on a bigger platform.
She represented the Republic of Ireland’s football team 11 times but boxing was her true calling – she conquered the amateur mountain by winning five consecutive world championships spanning eight years. Suddenly the Olympics welcomed female boxers for the first time at London 2012 and although Nicola Adams was the first ever gold medallist (simply because her final fight came before Taylor’s), the Irish lightweight also became a champion a few days later on the same iconic stage. She flew home to Ireland to a heroine’s reception.
Four years later she was eliminated from the Rio Olympics at a surprisingly early stage but, under promoter Eddie Hearn, launched a professional career that has yielded 15 wins without defeat, every major championship at lightweight and most recently the WBO super-lightweight title.
Softly-spoken and a woman of faith outside the ropes, she becomes a thrill to watch inside the ring – technically excellent with speed and skill but, intriguingly, the will to be dragged into a dogfight. Her brawl with Delfine Persoon in New York this year was one of the best women’s boxing matches ever and a rematch will surely be on the cards at some point.
The year 2020 promises a lot for Taylor because there are other female boxers who believe themselves to be the best. Amanda Serrano is a seven-weight world champion while Cecilia Braekhus is, like Taylor, an undisputed champion. These are scores that must be settled for Taylor, who is now 33, before her boxing journey comes to an eventual end.
Her accolades stand up alongside the elite of men’s boxing but, tellingly, because of Taylor no young girl will have to dress as a boy to enter a boxing gym again.
James Dielhenn
11. Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time having won an incredible 28 medals (23 gold, three silver and two bronze) over five Olympic games.
Two of those Games and a dozen of those medals – including nine golds – have been grasped in the last 10 years. The first decade of this century may have seen him land more titles, but the second decade has served to cement his legacy.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics belonged to Phelps as he claimed eight golds from eight events and by the time London 2012 came around, Phelps was still at the top of his game. He claimed four gold medals and two silver. This brought his total Olympic medal count to 22 – beating the previous record of 18 held by Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina.
After London 2012, Phelps announced his retirement, but it did not last long as he came storming back to qualify for a record fifth Olympics. Sixteen years after his first, Phelps went to Rio and added six more medals to his trophy cabinet with five gold and one silver, including gold in the 200-metere individual medley — becoming the first swimmer to win four consecutive golds in the same event.
Since retirement, Phelps has dedicated time to raising awareness of mental health – an issue which promoted his first break from the sport in 2012.
“Being an athlete you’re supposed to be this strong person who doesn’t have weaknesses, doesn’t have any problems,” he told Time Magazine. “No, that’s wrong. I struggle through problems just like everybody else does. I wanted to open up and just talk about it. It is what makes me who I am.”
Phelps’ talent has shone across two decades now and while he may not be in the pool in Tokyo in 2020, his impact continues to be felt.
Julian Crabtree
10. Simone Biles
Fittingly for a woman born in the town of Spring, Simone Biles has taken the world of gymnastics to a wider audience than ever before with her jaw-dropping routines regularly making the impossible seem possible.
By the age of 22, she has 35 medals in global events, 27 of them gold.
It’s never a surprise to see a Biles routine - on the floor, the vault, the beam or uneven bars – going viral and having not even entered her teenage years when the decade began, she has dominated the years that have followed her emergence.
Biles rose through the domestic circuit and was called-up to the US Gymnastics squad in 2013, starting as she was to go on; performing never-before-seen signature moves and winning gold medals.
A trailblazer as well as a relentless winning machine, she became the first African-American to win the all-around title at the World Championship in 2013. By the age of 19 she had won more World Championship gold medals than any other gymnast in history – a tally she has now taken to 19 following five more titles in Stuttgart earlier this year.
Having only just missed out on the Olympics in 2012, Biles set about making her mark at the 2016 Summer Games. On debut, aged just 19 and in front of a global audience of millions, she claimed five medals in Rio de Janeiro including four golds. The world eagerly awaits Tokyo in 2020.
As well as her standing as one of the very best her sport has produced, Biles has crossed into the mainstream. Winner of the Laureus world sportswoman of the year twice in the last three years, she has a trail of lucrative sponsorship deals underlining her global status which was cemented with the 2019 Game Changer award from People’s Choice.
There have been dark times. Times that were revealed in her 2018 Twitter revelation that saw her join America’s #MeToo movement. She was one of many USA Gymnastics athletes to allege she had been sexually assaulted by USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. Nassar was later sentenced to between 40 and 175 years in prison, while Biles and her fellow survivors were awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
Biles’ story and sport may have gone under the radar in the past, but it is a testament to the times in which we now live that both have been told and her excellence celebrated.
Paul Prenderville
9. LeBron James
LeBron James’ triumphs and tribulations have defined the NBA through the last decade.
No player can match James’ 2010s resume of three NBA titles, three Finals MVP awards, three regular-season MVPs and permanent places on the All-NBA and All-Star teams. Given his status as the NBA’s most recognised figure around the world, it seems odd to recall James began the decade as a villain whose ability to bring a title to his team was routinely questioned.
James’ 2010 decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to “take his talents to South Beach” made him a hated figure. But forming a ‘superteam’ with his superstar friends Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami emphatically answered the critics who said ‘The King’ could not lead a team to a championship.
The Heat reached four successive Finals from 2011 to 2014, winning two titles. James took home the Finals MVP award both times. After the San Antonio Spurs denied the Heat a ‘three-peat’ of titles in 2014, James returned to Cleveland with the promise of delivering a championship for his hometown team. With the help of Kyrie Irving’s clutch Game 7 shooting, he made good on his word as the Cavaliers overturned a 3-1 deficit to win the 2016 Finals. Once again, he took home the Finals MVP award.
In total, James took the Cavaliers to four straight Finals in his second stint in Cleveland. When the overmatched Cavaliers were swept by the Golden State Warriors in the 2018 Finals, it was time for a new challenge. After eight straight Eastern Conference titles (four with Miami, four with Cleveland) James headed west to join the Los Angeles Lakers.
LeBron’s first year in purple and gold was ruined by injury and a lop-sided Lakers roster. He did not reach the playoffs for the first time since the 2004-05 season. This season, benefitting from the first extended summer break of his career and with a retooled supporting cast led by Anthony Davis, the now 35-year-old James has returned in full force. He leads the league in assists, is scoring 25 points a game and is part of the MVP conversation after leading the Lakers to the Western Conference’s best record.
As 2020 approaches, there is no sign of him letting up and no reason to suspect he will not be able to bring an NBA title to LA.
Lee Harvey
8. Tom Brady
Heading into this decade, Tom Brady was already a three-time Super Bowl winner and established as one of the NFL’s finest quarterbacks and most successful players. In the 10 years since, he has gone on to become a legend of the game and arguably the greatest of all time.
Brady’s decade actually started with disappointment - a playoff first-round exit followed by a second straight Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants. How did he respond? With seven straight AFC Championship appearances, three more Vince Lombardi trophies, and another appearance in the big game, albeit a defeat.
Since 2010, he has started every single game for the Patriots minus a four-game suspension in 2016. 153 regular-season games, 120 wins. Plus a 16-6 record in the playoffs. Whether it was Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, or a receiver New England picked up off the street days before a game, Brady has brought out the best in his surrounding playmakers.
Even without weapons around him - and at times a complete lack of running game - Brady has been able to excel due to his outstanding smarts, understanding of opposing defenses and insane competitiveness. Whether he could have the same success without Hall of Fame coach Bill Belichick will always be questioned, but the fact is: time after time, year after year, Brady has come up big when mattered.
The overtime drive against Kansas City last season. The crazy fourth quarter against the Jaguars in 2017. The iconic 25-point comeback - largest in Super Bowl history that earned Brady his record-setting fourth Super Bowl MVP award - to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. Brady’s decade is littered with memorable, jaw-dropping moments. Statistically, he has put himself high in the record books in every major category - and he’s still doing it at 42 years old!
His 316 touchdown passes in this decade alone would put him in the top 12 of all-time for that category. He stands alone with the most seasons of at least 20 TDs in NFL history (17) - and he has achieved that feat in every season this decade.
Ultimately, when we look back on Brady’s career, this decade took it to the next level. He has the most Super Bowl wins (six) and appearances (nine). He will finish his career with the most regular-season wins and playoff wins (by a mile).
The NFL will miss Tom Brady when he finally decides to hang it up.
James Simpson
7. Usain Bolt
When the Olympic Games roll round every four years, the focus in this country falls on the exploits of Team GB, with the exception of a few global megastars. Front and centre of those megastars is Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who has dominated Olympic athletics like no other.
Having announced himself with golds over 100m and 200m in 2008, Bolt entered the decade fresh from world records in both disciplines at the 2009 World Championships. It’s easy to forget, but when London 2012 came around, there were doubts about whether he would dominate again. A false start in the 100m at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu cost him, and he lost in Jamaican qualifiers to Yohan Blake ahead of the London Games. Many thought the younger man would dethrone Bolt - but that was never going to happen.
The 6ft5in icon blew away the competition, claiming three golds with his casual demeanour and elements of showboating within races marking him out not just as a legendary athlete but a true entertainer - the kind that only graces a sport once in a generation.
After cleaning up with hat-tricks of gold medals at the World Championships of 2013 and 2015, Bolt then did it all again - this time with fewer doubters - at Rio 2016. What he has done for athletics cannot be underestimated - and not just because his performances have been groundbreaking.
Until this year, nine of the 30 fastest 100m times ever were recorded by Bolt, with the other 21 all by athletes with doping convictions. Christian Coleman broke into that top 30 this year and, though he has no doping convictions, he was charged by USADA for missing three doping tests - although the charge was dropped in September.
In a sport where the shadow of doping hangs over many, Bolt has stood alone as a beacon of fair play, saying when he retired: “If you go out of your way to cheat to be a better athlete... you should get life bans. I’ve proven to the world you can do it. You can be great without doping, that’s one of the things I want to preach to the younger kids.”
His 100m and 200m world records were both set in the previous decade, but the time of 36.84 he set alongside Yohan Blake, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater at London 2012’s 4x100m relay remains the fastest ever.
His medal haul for the decade is six Olympic golds, eight World Championship golds and one bronze from when he bowed out, not fully fit, at London 2017. Now that takes some beating.
James Phillips
6. Novak Djokovic
Since 2010, Novak Djokovic has been the dominant force in men's tennis, winning a remarkable 62 ATP tournaments. He is relentless in his pursuit of greatness. His extreme elasticity, combined with his steely determination to win at all costs makes him the ultimate competitor.
In the past 10 years Djokovic has won six Australian Open titles, five Wimbledon crowns, three US Open titles and one French Open in 2016. He holds 16 Grand Slam titles in total and at 32 he could conceivably overtake both Rafael Nadal (19) and Roger Federer (20) by the time he calls time on his career.
He became world No 1 for the first time in July 2011 and held that position in a long stretch from July 2014 until October 2016. Djokovic held top spot as recently as October 2019 and he has Pete Sampras (286 weeks) and all-time record-holder Roger Federer (310 weeks) firmly in his sights. He went 80-38 against top-five players during this decade and 10-5 against No 1-ranked players.
Djokovic, who has spoken of his desire to end his career as the statistically most successful player in history, has also won 29 Masters 1000 titles as well as four end-of-season ATP Finals crowns in London. He's arguably the greatest hard-court player of all time, and the last 10 years has shown us exactly why, winning 45 out of those 62 titles on his favourite surface.
As well as becoming Laureus world sportsman of the year in 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2019, Djokovic has also addressed the United Nations on behalf of world athletes proclaiming April 6 as the International Day of Sports for Peace and Development.
Djokovic's face can be seen plastered all over huge billboards around his home city of Belgrade. The man is seen as a god in his homeland who has put Serbia on the map in the world of sport. Olympic gold is one of the only prestigious prizes in tennis that has escaped the Serb. He will aim to end that drought in Tokyo next year.
Raz Mirza
5. Floyd Mayweather
The first 40 fights of Floyd Mayweather’s infamous 50-0 winning record came prior to 2010 – he is a modern great in two separate decades.
‘Pretty Boy Floyd’ defeated Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton pre-2010 but this decade saw his ‘Money Mayweather’ alter-ego come to the fore. He was rarely liked but never beaten, dominating at the box office and inside the ring to cement his status as an all-time great.
The reason he is among the great sportspeople of this decade is because he elevated boxing onto a bigger platform through his star power. Beating Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez was just the start. He picked the precise moment to face the talented Mexican who went on to become a superstar in his own right – this was a trademark of Mayweather’s authority. He fought on his terms in negotiations and inside the ropes.
Finally ‘The Fight of the Century’ took place. Mayweather and arch-rival Manny Pacquiao had been on a collision course for years and their 2015 meeting may have come too late, but it remains a historic moment, not least for its money-spinning record-breaking. Mayweather won at a canter.
Somehow he upped the ante again by fighting UFC star Conor McGregor two years ago. It was a spectacle and an extravaganza between two loudmouth entertainers but, once again, inside the ring it was all Mayweather. He won for the 50th time without loss, breaking the legendary Rocky Marciano’s record.
Of course, he laughed all the way to the bank. Forbes estimated that, in one night, Mayweather eclipsed the combined earnings in 2017 of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and LeBron James. The dollars were part of the character, throughout this decade. Mayweather topped Forbes’ annual list of the highest-paid athletes four times in seven years (he has not been active for the past two years).
There were controversies too, though, most notably a jail sentence that was delayed so he could fit in an extra fight. Some of the language used in the build-up to his fight with McGregor courted criticism. His longevity, the dollar bills and his undefeated career are what will define Mayweather – and can you ever really rule out a 51st fight?
James Dielhenn
4. Lionel Messi
On January 10, 2010, Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick for Barcelona in a 5-0 win over Tenerife. His third goal – an audacious, first-time chip over goalkeeper Sergio Aragoneses – was so good it prompted applause from the opposition fans. It was Messi’s first La Liga appearance of the decade and, looking back, it was a good indicator of what was to come.
In fact, only a few weeks ago, Messi drew a similar reaction from Atletico Madrid fans at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium. Even Diego Simeone, the Atletico manager, could not help but applaud his sensational winner. “With a great goal like that,” Simeone said afterwards, “it’s all you can do.”
This is just what Messi does to people. His brilliance transcends fandom. Even at 32, he reaches the end of the decade just as potent as he was at the start of it. Indeed, since that winner at Atletico Madrid, there has been yet another hat-trick – this time against Mallorca – which took his goal tally for the decade to a scarcely believable total of 521 in 518 appearances.
There is nobody in sport – let alone in football – who can claim to be operating so consistently at such a staggeringly high level. Earlier this month, Messi won the Ballon d’Or for the fifth time in 10 years, making him the first player in history to win it six times in total. In terms of club silverware, the decade has yielded six La Liga title wins, two Champions Leagues and more than a dozen other trophies.
There will always be those who claim he cannot be considered truly great until he wins a major international trophy, but the circumstances with Argentina have not helped him. In the last decade, they have had six different managers. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, by contrast, have only had two. The lack of stability has hurt Messi’s prospects, but his international record does not define him.
What defines him is his unrivalled genius on the pitch. Messi is not just a scorer of great goals but a provider of them too. In the last 10 years, in addition to the 521 goals he has scored himself, there have been 191 assists. Messi can do it all – and do all of it better than anyone else on the planet. It is why football fans from all over the world continue to make the pilgrimage to the Camp Nou. And it is why his achievements over the last decade will be cherished long after he is gone.
Nick Wright
3. Cristiano Ronaldo
Back in 2010, Cristiano Ronaldo was a Champions League winner with a Ballon d’Or to his name and a career at Manchester United already behind him. A star at the start of the decade, he ends it as a football icon. Ronaldo has become a byword for sustained excellence. A man obsessed with maximising his talent. Both bully and big-game player.
Between 2012 and 2018, Ronaldo was the top scorer in the Champions League for six consecutive seasons. His Real Madrid side won the competition in four of them, ending the long wait for La Decima before becoming the first team to retain the trophy, and then going one better by winning it for a third time in a row. Ronaldo’s heroics were a regular feature.
He scored in two of the finals. Netted in the shootout in another. The one final in which he did not score was in 2018, but his bicycle kick against Juventus in the quarter-final that season was one of the great Champions League goals. Now he is banging them in for the Italian champions instead – scoring a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid earlier this year.
Winning a league title in a third different country is something Ronaldo’s biggest admirers will highlight as a point of differential with his great rival Lionel Messi. There is another. While the Argentine was unable to add any international honours for his country, Ronaldo captained Portugal to an unexpected victory at the 2016 European Championships.
He actually went off injured early on in the final against hosts France – having to settle for impromptu coaching duties on the touchline. But his role in taking Portugal so far was huge, twice drawing level in the group stages against Hungary when defeat would have consigned his country to an early exit. He broke the deadlock in the semi-final win over Wales too.
Ronaldo has since led Portugal to Nations League success in 2019 and finishes the decade with 99 international goals to his name. He will surely become the first European to bring up his century in the spring. Now approaching 35, it seems unlikely he will add to his five Ballons d’Or in the next decade. But this one assuredly belonged to Cristiano Ronaldo.
Adam Bate
2. Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton’s sixth world title in 2019 – and fifth this decade – arrived 11 years after his first, forming the longest arch of world championship victories in Formula 1’s history.
It’s a telling statistic and even more so when aligned with the two teams of his career, the McLaren years (2007-12) and those at Mercedes (2013-present). Only one of his titles came in his six seasons at McLaren. The other five have been won in his seven Mercedes years.
There is no question the technical advantages he has enjoyed at Mercedes in the hybrid era of F1 have been the cornerstone of his spectacular career statistics. By comparison, he enjoyed McLarens that ranged from good (2007-08) through poor (2009) to reasonably competitive but behind the cutting edge represented by Red Bull (2010-12).
Yet even in his McLaren years he was widely hailed as ‘F1’s fastest driver’ even if there was a more split opinion on whether he was ‘the best’. Those making the case he was merely the fastest would usually cite Fernando Alonso as the most complete.
After clinching that last-gasp 2008 title (having narrowly missed out on becoming the first rookie champion in the sport’s history the year before) and being thwarted by the initially hopeless 2009 McLaren, Hamilton’s next four seasons were spent taking opportunistic advantage of the rare days Sebastian Vettel was not in dominant form in Adrian Newey’s Red Bulls.
During those four seasons (2010-13) of Red Bull domination, Hamilton won only as many races as he took in 2019 alone and it looked feasible Hamilton’s career stats never would quite match his accepted stature within the sport. The statistically dominant driver of Hamilton’s era looked set to be Vettel, a situation Hamilton at times seemed almost resigned to.
But at the end of 2012 he made an off-track move arguably more spectacular even than those he was making on-track as he left McLaren for the hitherto unsuccessful Mercedes team, where he replaced Michael Schumacher, whose comeback had fallen short of expectations.
Although Hamilton won only one race there in 2013, it was the new-for-2014 hybrid formula that was the big focus of the team and its massive investment – and has been the foundation of his blockbusting success since.
As the fastest driver in the fastest car, the sport has rather surrendered itself to him, only a couple of key mechanical problems in 2016 keeping him from a clean sweep of all the hybrid era titles.
He now comfortably leads Vettel in the all the official records of achievement and his challenges going forward look set to be coming from the new generation, as personified by Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, guys 12-13 years his junior.
Mark Hughes
1. Serena Williams
Tennis Queen Serena Williams not only dominated the women's game in the 2000s but she has continued to lead the way on the international sporting landscape as a mother, icon, and leader.
She has collected 12 of her 23 Grand Slam titles after 2010, last winning a major title at the Australian Open in 2017, while being eight-weeks pregnant. Williams has also been runner-up in seven major finals and despite being stuck on 23 Grand Slams, the 38-year-old is proof age is just a number as she continues to try and equal Margaret Court's all-time record.
Injury and illness has played a part of Williams' past 10 years, although she continues to defy logic by battling back. She has finished as world No 1 in six out of the last 10 years, dropping outside of the top 10 just once during that time.
Williams, who has been coached by Patrick Mouratoglou for the past seven years, has also completed the career 'Golden Slam' by holding all four majors as well as Olympics singles gold. Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf and Rafael Nadal are the only other players to have done it. The irresistible Williams also completed her second 'Serena Slam' (winning all four Grand Slams in a row) by winning the 2015 Wimbledon title against Garbine Muguruza.
Her rivalry with older sister Venus is the stuff of legend. Serena currently leads the series 18-12, but her dominance over Maria Sharapova is arguably the most storied rivalry in women's tennis. The American is 20-2 up with the Russian last beating her old foe way back at the back end of 2004.
Away from the tennis court, Williams went through extensive complications after giving birth of her daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr in September 2017 and was bedridden for six weeks. "I almost died after giving birth to my daughter, Olympia," Williams revealed in an interview with Vogue.
Just two months later Williams and her partner Alexis Ohanian tied the knot. "Alexis doesn't dim my light. He doesn't try to dim my light," she explained to Allure. "He puts me in the light, even if I don't want to be. He pushes me to further points I never thought about."
Serena continues to prove her stunning resilience, fighting spirit, and winning mentality at the highest level. She has always maintained she will not quit the game until Roger Federer retires first. One thing is for sure, we are privileged to have watched Williams dominate the women's landscape in a golden era of tennis.
Raz Mirza
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