There have been many incredible athletes in the 2010s decade. Attempting to chronicle all is almost impossible. Here are some of the elite.
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel dominated F1 at the start of the decade, winning the championship in each year from 2010-13. He became the youngest double, triple and quadruple world champion in F1.
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton has 6 F1 crowns to his credit, 5 in the 2010s. Hamilton’s 6 World Championship titles are the second-most of all time, as is his tally of 84 race victories and 151 podium finishes.
Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch is the 2015 and ’19 Cup champion and has made the Championship 4 in each of the past five years. His 56 Cup wins rank second to Jimmie Johnson (83) among active drivers. He is tied with Rusty Wallace on the all-time wins list. Busch is the all-time record-holder for wins in both the Xfinity Series (96) and Gander Outdoors Truck Series (56).
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson has recorded 7 Cup championships, 83 career race wins, 221 top fives, 342 top 10s, and 35 pole positions. His title in 2010 made him the lone driver to win 5 consecutive crowns.
Scott Dixon
Scott Dixon has won the championship five times (2003, ’08, ’13, ’15 and ’18. With 46 wins, Dixon has the third highest winning total in American Championship Cars history (trailing only A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti).
Mike Trout
Mike Trout is an eight-time MLB All-Star, three time American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) (winning the award in 2014, 2016, and 2019, while finishing second in the 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2018 votes), and is a seven-time winner of the Silver Slugger Award.
Miguel Cabrera
Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown in 2012, becoming the first player in 45 years to accomplish the feat. He has been a two-time American League Most Valuable Player award winner, a four-time AL batting champion, and an 11-time MLB All-Star.
Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter was a five-time World Series champion. He is the Yankees’ all-time career leader in hits (3,465), doubles (544), games played (2,747), and stolen bases. His accolades include 14 All-Star selections, five Gold Glove Awards, five Silver Slugger Awards, two Hank Aaron Awards, and a Roberto Clemente Award.
Max Scherzer
USAT
Max Scherzer became the 10th pitcher in history to win at least three Cy Young Awards, the sixth to record two no-hitters in one season, the fifth to produce more than one immaculate inning, and the second to strike out at least 200 batters in a season eight years in a row.
Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander was named MVP, and was co-winner of the Babe Ruth Award as the Astros won the 2017 World Series. In 2018, Verlander became the 114th pitcher in major league history to earn 200 career wins. In 2019, Verlander became the sixth pitcher in MLB history to throw three career no-hitters and struck out his 3,000th batter, becoming the 18th pitcher in major league history to do so.
Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao is the only 8-division world champion in the history of boxing, having won 12 major world titles,] as well as being the first boxer to win the lineal championship in five different weight classes. Pacquiao is also the first boxer in history to win major world titles in four of the eight “glamour divisions:” flyweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s career record stands at 50-0. He has held multiple world titles in five weight classes and the lineal championship in four weight classes (twice at welterweight).
Brooks Koepka
Brooks Koepka became World Number 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking after winning the 2018 CJ Cup. He won the U.S. Open in 2017 and 2018, and the PGA Championship in 2018 and 2019, becoming the first golfer in history to hold back-to-back titles in two majors simultaneously.
Jordan Spieth
In 2015, Jordan Spieth became the second-youngest champion in Masters history. In 2017, 23-year-old Spieth became the youngest American to win the British Open.
Rory McIlroy
By age 23, Rory McIlroy had already won two of golf’s four major championships—the U.S. Open in 2011 and the PGA Championship in 2012—and risen to the rank of No. 1 in the world.
Tiger Woods
The decade was challenging for Tiger Woods. However, he finished with a flourish, winning the 2019 Masters. The victory was his fifth green jacket. In one of the most emotional finishes in tournament history, the 43-year-old Woods came from behind to win the 83rd Masters Tournament by a shot. He finished the decade by captaining the U.S. Presidents Cup team to a come-from-behind victory.
Inbee Park
Inbee Park has been the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Golf Rankings for four separate runs. Park has won seven major championships in her career, including three consecutive major wins during the 2013 season, becoming only the fourth LPGA Tour player to win three majors in a calendar year. She is the youngest player to win the U.S. Women’s Open.
American Pharoah
American Pharoah ended a 37-year drought for the Triple Crown when he captured the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in 2015. He finished his career as a winner of 9 races and almost $9,000,000 in earnings.
Bob Baffert
Bob Baffert is the pre-eminent trainer Thoroughbred Horse racing. He conditioned a pair of Triple Crown winners in the decade. Baffert’s horses have won . Baffert’s horses have won 5 Kentucky Derbies, 7 Preakness Stakes, 3 Belmont Stakes and 3 Kentucky Oaks.
Justify
Justify raced 6 times in his career, but what a run it was. Trained by Bob Baffert, the colt won all of his starts, including the Triple Crown. He was retired to stallion duty after winning the 2018 Belmont.
Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor transcended UFC with his controversial and colorful personality. The Irishman was always in the headlines and not in a good way. His process in the ring was great. In 2015, at UFC 194, he defeated José Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship via knockout 13 seconds into the first round, which is the fastest victory in UFC title fight history. Upon defeating Eddie Alvarez for the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 205, McGregor became the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight divisions simultaneously. He tried boxing and was defeated by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017.
Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey was dominant in the Octagon until she wasn’t. She was the inaugural female champion in UFC when she was named Bantamweight Champion. Rousey took part in the first women’s fight in UFC history when she successfully defended her title against Liz Carmouche at UFC 157. After setting the record for most UFC title defenses by a woman (6), Rousey had her first professional loss in MMA when she lost her title to Holly Holm. In 2018, she became the first female fighter to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. In 2018, Rousey began a career in professional wrestling, signing a contract with WWE. She debuted at WrestleMania 34, and later won the Raw Women’s Championship at SummerSlam.
LeBron James
LeBron James is the best player of his generation and one of the best to don a basketball uniform. The 6-foot-8 James can play any position. He is a 3-time NBA champion and 3-time Finals MVP. He also is a 4-time league MVP. He ended the drought Cleveland had when it came to major sports titles when he led the Cavaliers to the NBA title in 2016.
Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis does not have a ring … yet. He’s currently on the Los Angeles Lakers after playing with the New Orleans (Hornets)/Pelicans as the first overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. Davis is a six-time NBA All-Star, and has been named to three All-NBA First Teams and three NBA All-Defensive Teams. He also earned a gold medal with the 2012 U.S. Olympic team.
Stephen Curry
Stephon Curry is a 6-time NBA All-Star. He has been named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) twice and won 3 NBA championships with the Warriors. His incredible outside shooting prowess has led many to call him the greatest shooter in NBA history. He is credited with revolutionizing the game of basketball by inspiring teams to regularly utilize the 3-point shot.
Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard has become one of the best NBA players of his generation. Currently a Los Angeles Clipper, Leonard led the Toronto Raptors to their first NBA crown in 2019. Leonard entered the 2011 NBA Draft and was selected by the Indiana Pacers with the 15th overall pick before being traded to the San Antonio Spurs on draft night. With the Spurs, Leonard won an NBA championship in 2014, when he was named the Finals MVP. After 7 seasons with the Spurs, Leonard was traded to the Toronto Raptors in 2018. Leonard is a 3-time All-Star with 2 All-NBA First Team selections.
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant started the decade by winning his fifth NBA title in 2010. He was named Finals MVP that year for the second straight season. He was MVP of the 2011 All-Star Game. While his best seasons were before this decade, his impact on the game can’t be denied. Thus, he has earned his place here.
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant won 2 NBA championships, an NBA Most Valuable Player Award, 2 Finals MVP Awards, 2 NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Awards, 4 NBA scoring titles, the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, and 2 Olympic gold medals. Durant has also been selected to 9 All-NBA teams and 10 NBA All-Star teams.
James Harden
James Harden is another great NBA player who has yet to win his first championship. The guard from Arizona State was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2012 with the Thunder and helped the team reach the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Miami Heat in five games. Harden was traded to Houston before the 2012–13 NBA season. In 2018, Harden led the league in scoring and was named the NBA MVP. He is a 7-time NBA All-Star, and has earned All-NBA Team honors 6 times, including 5 times to the first team.
Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook is an 8-time NBA All-Star and earned the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in the 2016–17 season. He is also an 8-time All-NBA Team member, led the league in scoring in 2014–15 and 2016–17, and won back-to-back NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player awards in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, Westbrook became one of two players in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season, along with Oscar Robertson in 1962
Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Greek Freak has taken the NBA by storm. Giannis Antetokounmpo was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2013 with the 15th overall pick. In 2016–17 he led the Bucks in all five major statistical categories and became the first player in NBA history to finish a regular season in the top 20 in all five statistics of total points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. He received the Most Improved Player award in 2017. He has received 3 All-Star selections, and led the Eastern Conference in voting in 2019. In June 2019, he was named the NBA MVP.
Tom Brady
Tom Brady is the G.O.A.T. A 6-time Super Bowl champion, the sixth-round pick from Michigan is one of the elite quarterbacks in NFL history.
Rob Gronkowski
A person who backed up his personality with his play, tight end Rob Gronkowski was a key spoke in the New England Patriots’ championship wheel. He is a 3-time Super Bowl champion (XLIX, LI, LIII), a 5-time Pro Bowl selection, 4-time First Team All-Pro selection, and was the highest ranked tight end in the annual NFL Top 100 Players 5 times. He is also in the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Michael Thomas
Still early in the career of New Orleans Saints wideout Michael Thomas, but he is on his way to finding a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The former Ohio State star caught 125 passes last season and is on his way to surpassing that mark in 2019.
Aaron Donald
Aaron Donald was drafted by the Rams with the 13th pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. He has been selected to 5 Pro Bowls, won the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, and has been named twice as the AP Defensive Player of the Year, having won the award back-to-back in 2017 and ’18.
Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and was a member of the Denver Broncos in his last 4 seasons. A two-time Super Bowl winner and the MVP of Super Bowl XLI, Manning is the only quarterback to start the Super Bowl for two franchises more than once each, with different coaches at each Super Bowl start (Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, John Fox, and Gary Kubiak), and the only starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl with two franchises.
Drew Brees
Drew Brees continues to build on his Hall-of-Fame resume as quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XLIV. Sports Illustrated named Brees its 2010 Sportsman of the Year.
Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers is another member of a golden generation of NFL quarterbacks. The Packers’ great was MVP in 2011 and 20′ and was Super Bowl MVP in ’10.
J.J. Watt
J.J. Watt was a first-team All-Pro in five of this decade’s 10 seasons and earned Defensive Player of the Year honoros three times (2012, ’14, and ’15). The Houston Texans star also is known for his philanthropy.
Deshaun Watson
Deshaun Watson played college football at Clemson and led the team to a CFP championship game appearance in 2015 and a national championship win in 2016. He was then drafted by the Houston Texans and has become one of the top stars at quarterback in the NFL.
Russell Wilson
Russell Wilson helped the graduate transfer trend take flight when he moved from North Carolina State. The Seattle Seahawks star is a winner and has a Super Bowl ring to his credit in addition to being named Wilson has been named to 6 Pro Bowls.
Sidney Crosby
Sidney Crosby led the Pittsburgh Penguins to Stanley Cup championships in 2016, and ’17 to go with the first one he was a part of in 2009.
Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin is a perennial top scorer and helped the Washington Capitals win their first Stanley Cup in 2018. Ovechkin won the goal-scoring title in 2013, earning the Richard Trophy and his third Hart Trophy. He would repeat as the Richard Trophy winner in 2014, ’15, and ’16, scoring at least 50 goals each season and becoming only the third player to score 50 goals in seven different seasons. Ovechkin reached 600 career NHL goals in 2018.
Evgeni Malkin
Evgeni Malkin provided the second half of a stunning 1-2 punch that saw the Pittsburgh Penguins add a pair of Stanley Cups. The forward has more than 1,000 points, including nearly 400 career goals.
Patrick Kane
Patrick Kane has won three Stanley Cups as a member of the Blackhawks, in 2010, ’13 and ’15, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs in 2013. Kane won the Hart Memorial Trophy as Most Valuable Player and Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion in the 2015–16 season. .
Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps continued his dominance of the world and Olympic swimming in the decade. When all was said and done, the American great had earned 23 gold medals and 28 overall medals.
Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt remained the fastest man in the world in the 2010s. The Jamaican sprinter also added major celebrity status to his honors. Olympics-wise, Bolt completed a “triple-triple,” with a total of 9 gold medals earned in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4×100-meter relay races over the in the 2008, ’12 and ’16 Summer Games.
Simone Biles
Simone Biles is a legend in her time as a gymnast. Having won 30 Olympic and World Championship medals, Biles is the most decorated American gymnast At the 2019 World Gymnastics Championships she won numerous medials, finishing with a career total of 25, including 19 golds.
Lindsey Vonn
Lindsey Vonn has been the most dominant female skier on the World Cup scene for many years. Vonn is one of 6 women to have won World Cup races in all five disciplines of alpine skiing—downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined—and won 82 World Cup races in her career. Vonn was an Olympian in 2002, ’06, ’10, and ’18.
Mikaela Shiffrin
Mikaela Shiffrin is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and current three-time reigning Overall World Cup champion, the four-time reigning world champion in slalom, and a six-time winner of the World Cup title in that event. She has won 62 World Cup races, third most all time by a female alpine skier, including 42 WC slalom races, the most won by any alpine skier, male or female.
Mo Farah
British runner Mo Farah is the 2012 and ’16 Olympic gold medalist in both the 5,000m and 10,000m. Farah is the second athlete in modern Olympic Games history, after Lasse Virén, to win both the 5,000m and 10,000m titles at successive Olympic Games. He also completed the “distance double” at the 2013 and ’15 World Championships.
Elena Delle Donne
Elena Delle Donne is one of the top women’s basketball players in the world. She started her career at UConn before transferring to Delaware to be closer to her developmentally challenged sister. Delle Donne led the Washington Mystics to their first WNBA Championship in franchise history in 2019. Delle Donne has won two WNBA MVP awards (2015, ’19), and has been selected to six all-star teams,
Diana Taurasi
Diana Taurasi is a basketball legend. Taurasi has won 3 WNBA championships (2007, ’09, and ’14), 1 WNBA MVP Award (’09), 2 WNBA Finals MVP Awards (’09 and ’14), 4 Olympic gold medals, (2004, ’08, ’12, and ’16), 5 scoring titles, a WNBA Rookie of the Year Award, and 3 FIBA World Cups.
Messi
Lionel Messi has won a record 6 Ballon d’Or awards, and a record 6 European Golden Shoes. He has spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he has won a club-record 34 trophies. Messi holds records for most goals in La Liga (431), a La Liga and European league season (50), most hat-tricks in La Liga (35) and the UEFA Champions League (8), and most assists in La Liga (174) and the Copa América (13).
Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo has won 5 Ballon d’Or awards and 4 European Golden Shoes, both records for a European player. He has won 29 trophies in his career. Ronaldo holds the record for most goals scored in the UEFA Champions League (128) and the joint record of most goals scored in the UEFA European Championship (9).
Megan Rapinoe
Megan Rapinoe was Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year for 2019. She led the USWNT to consecutive World Cup victories. She is also an activist. The USWNT site describes here as an irresistible force — on and off the field.
Alex Morgan
Alex Morgan is another key part of the USWNT. She co-captained the team since 2018 with Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd. Morgan helped the United States win their titles at the 2015 and ’19 FIFA Women’s World Cups, where she was named to the Dream Team for both tournaments, and won the Silver Boot in 2019.
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic is one of the Big 3 of men’s tennis, who have dominated the scene for many years. Djokovic Djokovic has won 16 Grand Slam singles titles, five ATP Finals titles, 34 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 13 ATP Tour 500 titles, and has held the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for 275 weeks.
Roger Federer
The great Roger Federer continues to defy time. The Swiss star has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles—the most in history by a male player—and has held the world No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for a record total of 310 weeks (including a record 237 consecutive weeks) and was the year-end No. 1 five times, including four consecutive.
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal is the king of clay and is pretty great on other tennis surfaces, too. The Spaniard Nadal has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, as well as a record 35 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 20 ATP Tour 500 titles and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles. In addition, Nadal has held the world no. 1 ranking for a total of 202 weeks, including being the year-end no. 1 5 times.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams is an amazing tennis player whose career has spanned decades. She also has been a vocal activist and businessperson. She has won 23 major singles titles, most by any man or woman in the Open Era. The WTA ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002-17.
