Roger Federer, Source: Tennis365
Over the years, we’ve seen some greats across the wide spectrum that is sport. Today, we’re going to look at who I would consider 5 of the greatest of all time. We’ll be looking at 5 different sports, and 5 different legends, let’s not just stick to the one field of expertise eh? Also, one thing to note is that this list is just my opinion, your list may vary, we can compare lists at the end, you ready? Let’s go!
As always, we’re going to start by making my list of who I consider my top 5 and what they’re known for, then we’ll break them down one by one. So, here it is, my top 5 greatest athletes of all time;
- Roger Federer – Tennis GOD.
- Tiger Woods – Arguably the greatest golfer of all time!
- Lionel Messi – Speaks for himself, has killed it his entire career, still going.
- Floyd Mayweather Jr. – This man is constantly in the discussion as the boxing GOAT.
- George St-Pierre – Again, like Floyd, constantly talked about as the GOAT in MMA!
So as you can see by my list, I’ve picked who I consider to be the greatest athletes in a few different sporting fields. A few honorable mentions though. Usain Bolt, this man came, saw and conquered EVERY sprint event at the Olympics for a long time, setting and smashing world records REGULARLY. Muhammad Ali, I was going to put him at number 4 instead of Floyd but as a younger man I never really got to experience his greatness, however, I did get to see Floyd dominate and keep that clean 50-0 record, though his bout against McGregor was questionable at best.
Also, it’d be hard to put Lionel Messi on that list without mentioning his predecessors, Pele and Maradona, those 2 guys put football on the global stage and their performances got people hooked, along with many others, but those two were something else. I could add more honorable mentions based on the selections I made, for tennis, golf and MMA but I’d be here all day. So it’s time to break down my top 5 selections.
5 – George St-Pierre
Now some people may be surprised at my inclusion of GSP in this list, but in my opinion he is the greatest mixed martial artist of all time and as such, that makes him one of the greatest athletes of all time. It would’ve been super easy to just make this list 5 of the most famous tennis players or footballers, but we’re diversifying things here! GSP is a SUPREMELY fit athlete, the man is fast, he’s fluid and incredibly skilled. His goal? “To be the most efficient, quickest thinking fighter.” He said. “I aim to be flexible, open minded and ready for any situation.”
Of course some may say there are more likely candidates here, sure you could name Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, but their legacies have taken hits over the years with failed drugs tests etc. GSP though? He spent 7 years atop the finest mountain of welterweights on the planet, he left the sport as a champion and came back years later to claim the middleweight belt and he did it all without the taint of a positive drugs test. This man is the greatest, prove me wrong!
4 – Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Again, there are many names you could put here if you’re looking at boxing alone, but for me, Floyd is the complete package. The man arguably has the best defense of any boxer ever, it’s rare to land any more than two consecutive punches on him. Even if you do catch him, the man would adjust his body and soften the second blow, after that you either lose him or he grabs you. Smart. Not only that, but his chin was incredible.
In terms of offense, Floyd is regarded as having one of the better jabs in the game, though he may not be causing big damage with his jab, he was able to use it as a tool for distancing properly, which any fighter knows being able to measure distance on the fly is a massive thing and his feet, the way his legs position him to defend or attack is incredible.
Lionel Messi at Anfield, Source: TalkSport
3 – Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi will likely retire within the next few years, while he is still killing it at 33 and he still carries Barcelona, the team around him has slowly gotten worse over the years and it’s going to get to a point where Messi can’t do all the work on his own. That doesn’t mean he won’t leave behind an outrageous legacy. The man has scored 672 goals in 778 appearances in all competitions for Barcelona and 71 goals in 142 appearances for Argentina. Just crazy stats.
Messi changed the way a lot of people viewed the game with his rapid footwork, crazy dead ball ability, outrageous vision and insane range of passing.
Messi changed the way a lot of people viewed the game with his rapid footwork, crazy dead ball ability, outrageous vision and insane range of passing. Somewhat more incredibly, as a 5’7 winger, he was actually pretty good in the air and has scored a few headed goals, arguably none more important than against Manchester United in the Champions League. Messi has won it all at club level but has never managed to match that for his country, which is why some people don’t put him as the greatest, but for me, none have ever played the game the way he does and it’ll be a while before anybody else does.
2 – Tiger Woods
He’s Tiger Woods, what more do you want? The man is the only player in the history of the sport to win FOUR consecutive major championships, not only that but he has the lowest scoring average of a player in the history of the PGA tour AND he was the youngest player to ever achieve a grand slam. The man stepped away from golf due to injuries, then on his return to regular competition, he made steady progress, winning his first tournament in five years at the Tour Championship in 2018 and his first major in 11 years at the 2019 masters, he is the undisputed greatest golfer of all time.
1 – Roger Federer
What can you even say about Roger Federer that hasn’t already been said? He’s arguably the most versatile player to ever play the game, on hard and grass courts he dominated, he may have been outclassed on clay but almost everywhere else, he almost always came out on top. Federer’s one handed backhand will go down as one of the classic shots and has been utilized by many young players coming through, not to mention his forehand is widely regarded as one of the greatest shots in tennis according to Pete Sampras.
His statistics are mind blowing too, with a career record of 1243-273 winning 103 titles, making it to 31 grand slam finals, winning 20, and runner up in 11, the man has style, talent and the trophy cabinet to back it all up. He will go down as one of, if not, the greatest tennis player of all time.
That’ll do it for my list and my breakdown. This list could’ve been in any order and with plenty of other names slotted in place of the people I went with. I’d be interested to see how you guys would pick your list. Have you got any bets on any of the younger superstars of today to take the mantle of GOAT from some of the names I’ve mentioned? Seems like plenty of sportsbooks have markets for stuff like that these days, you just gotta know where to look, thankfully there are plenty of services out there that will help you find the right place to get you started if you think you know who is gonna rise to the top, like this Sportsinteraction Review, if you do get involved,Let us know who’s going to the moon, we’d like to get involved!
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