40 Greatest Athletes of the Decade

by Julian Spivey and Eric Fulton

40. Aaron Donald 

Aaron Donald was selected 13th overall by the then St. Louis Rams in the 2014 NFL Draft and has been a staple on the team, even after their return to Los Angeles. Donald has been one of the most feared defensive players in all of the NFL this past decade, making five Pro Bowls and being named a two-time Defensive Player of the Year. EF

39. Ronda Rousey

For a while during the decade Ronda Rousey was the most dominant female athlete in the world and was the most significant factor in not only helping to build women’s mixed martial arts, but the UFC in general. Rousey won the first 12 UFC matches of her career from 2011-2015 and these events weren’t even close with the majority of them ending in under a minute. Unfortunately, Rousey’s stardom quickly fell bac down to earth when she lost the final two matches of her career to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes in the same quick fashion in which she was used to dispatching opponents. Her impact on MMA was immeasurable and she became the first female inductee of the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018 as a result. JS

38. Jordan Spieth

Jordan Spieth took the PGA Tour by storm in 2015 when he won the Masters Tournament going wire-to-wire for his first career major title at the age of 21. Then two months later Spieth would win back-to-back majors by taking the U.S. Open title at Chambers Bay outside of Seattle, Wash. Those two major victories, a second-place finish in the year’s fourth major at the PGA Championship and winning the Fed Ex Cup playoffs led to Spieth winning the PGA Tour Player of the Year honor. In 2017 Spieth won his third major title of the decade winning The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club. Spieth won 11 PGA Tour tournaments over the decade. JS

37. Sidney Crosby

After the NHL returned from a season long lockout in 2005, Sidney Crosby became the face of the new NHL and he continued to be that face for the decade. Despite some injury setbacks, Crosby has led the Pittsburgh Penguins to three Stanley Cup champions (two in this decade). He is also a two time Conn Smythe winner (Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP), a regular season scoring champion and a league MVP. EF 

36. Allyson Felix 

Allyson Felix has been one of the most decorated track and field athletes of all-time. In her career, Felix has won six Olympic Gold Medals, an Olympic Silver Medal and 7 World Championship Golds as one of the greatest sprinters Team USA has ever seen. EF

35. Scott Dixon

Scott Dixon was the most successful IndyCar Series driver of the decade with three championships in 2013, 2015 and 2018 to go along with the two titles he won in the previous decade. Dixon is always one of the main threats to take home the IndyCar title driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon won 24 races during the decade, which was second most to only Will Power’s 33. Power may have won nine more races than Dixon, but he also won two fewer championships.  JS

34. Miguel Cabrera 

Miguel Cabrera has been slowed by injury and age a bit in his last few seasons, but at the beginning of the decade he was the best hitter in baseball bar none. In his historic 2012 season Cabrera won the Triple Crown of hitting in the American League for the Detroit Tigers leading the league in batting average, home runs and runs batted in, something that hadn’t been done in Major League Baseball in 45 years since Carl Yastrzemski had done so in 1967. Baseball has gone a decade longer without a Triple Crown winner than horse racing had. Cabrera won two MVPs in the decade in back-to-back seasons of 2012 and 2013 and won four batting titles in the decade, including three straight years (2011-2013) and was named an All-Star seven times. JS

33. Carli Lloyd 

Carli Lloyd has become one of the most decorated players in United States Soccer history. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women’s World Champion with the United States. In 2015, Lloyd scored a hat trick in the gold medal game in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final leading the United States to a win over Japan. Lloyd has seen 288 appearances with the US Women’s National Team scoring 121 goals. EF

32. Marit Bjorgen

Marit Bjorgen is the most decorated Winter Olympian of all-time, male or female, with 15 medals in Winter Olympic games dating back to the Norwegian cross-country skier’s first Olympic glory at the Vancouver games in 2010. Bjorgen would win three golds in 2010, three golds in Sochi in 2014 and two golds in her final Olympics appearance in 2018 in Pyeongchang. Bjorgen captured four Olympic silver medals and three bronze medals during her run, as well. Bjorgen added to her trophy case this decade with 14 more gold medals in the World Ski Championships. JS

31. JJ Watt 

JJ Watt has become one of the most respected defensive players in the NFL since Lawrence Taylor. He already has a Hall of Fame resume thanks to being a five time Pro Bowler and a three time Defensive Player of the Year. Watt has also been a pillar in the Houston Community winning the 2017 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year award. He’d likely be higher on this list had he not run into major injuries during the second half of the decade. EF

30. Russell Westbrook

If you can do something in a major professional sports league that hasn’t been done in more than half a century than you’re really doing something. That’s what Russell Westbrook did in the 2016-17 NBA season when he averaged a triple-double (double digits in points, rebounds and assists) for an entire season, the first to do so since Oscar Robertson (the only player who’d ever done it) in 1962. The Oklahoma City Thunder point guard rode his triple-double average and his record 42 triple-doubles in a season to a MVP Award. More impressively Westbrook would average a triple-double in the next two seasons, as well, becoming the first player in NBA history to do so more than once. Westbrook was named to eight All-Star games this decade, winning the MVP in two of them, and was voted onto the NBA All-First team twice in 2016 and 2017. Westbrook was also the NBA’s scoring champ in 2015 and 2017. JS

29. Brooks Koepka

Brooks Koepka has become golf’s version of the big game hunter. He’s only won seven PGA Tour tournaments since his career began in 2012, but four of those wins have come in major tournaments. Koepka won the U.S. Open back-to-back in 2017 and 2018 and then won the PGA Championship back-to-back in 2018 and 2019. Koepka came very close to winning a career grand slam in the span of a year with a runner-up at the Masters and a fourth-place finish at The Open this year. Koepka was also the PGA Tour Player of the Year in 2018. JS

28. James Harden 

Over the last few years Houston Rockets superstar James Harden has proven to be the most prolific scorer in the NBA winning two consecutive scoring titles. The seven-time All-Star has been a five time NBA All-First Team selection and win he won the MVP award in 2018 after winning the 6th Man Award with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012 he joined Bill Walton as the only players in NBA history to win both honors. The only thing Harden has yet to do in his hall of fame career is win the championship. JS

27. Eliud Kipchoge

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge is certainly the greatest long-distance runner in the world and arguably could be the greatest of all-time. In the past decade Kipchoge has won nine major marathons worldwide, including the London Marathon and Berlin Marathon four times apiece. The 35-year old runner also won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and holds the world record in a marathon at just barely over two hours, which he set in Berlin in 2018. JS

26. Justin Verlander

Justin Verlander is fresh off his second Cy Young Award of the decade with his second different team after winning the honor with the Houston Astros this season. Verlander previous won the Cy Young in 2011 with the Detroit Tigers in the same season he was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player. Verlander’s Cy Youngs coincided with the two seasons he pitched no-hitters this decade (he has another than came in 2007). Verlander was a six-time All-Star this decade, led the A.L. in strikeouts four times, in wins twice and in ERA in 2011. After a last second trade deadline deal in 2017 sent Verlander from Detroit to Houston the ace would lead the Astros to their first ever championship in franchise history and the first title of his career. JS

25. Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch has made certain that he’s going to go down in history as the winningest driver in NASCAR history when it comes to competing in all three of NASCAR’s upper-series. He already has the record when you combine his career wins in all three series and at just 34-years old he may have another full decade of racing ahead of him. Busch won the most races this decade in NASCAR’s premier Cup Series with 40, while notching two championships in the series in 2015 and 2019. Busch also compiled an almost unbelievable 106 wins in the lower NASCAR Series of the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series. JS

24. Max Scherzer

Max Scherzer proved to be one of Major League Baseball’s most intimidating pitchers during the decade in both leagues while pitching for the Detroit Tigers (where he teamed up with Justin Verlander, who’s also on this list) and then Washington Nationals, where he would help lead the team to their first World Series title in franchise history in 2019. Scherzer won the Cy Young Award three times this decade with the Tigers in 2013 and in 2016 and 2017 with the Nationals. He led baseball in wins in four different seasons and the National League in strikeouts in three straight seasons from 2016-2018. Scherzer made the All-Star team seven times in the last decade and in 2015 became one of just a handful of pitchers to pitch two no-hitters in the same season. JS

23. Usain Bolt 

Usain Bolt continued his run as the fastest man on Earth this decade with more track & field dominance at the Olympics and the World Championships. The Jamaican sprinter, widely considered the greatest of all-time, won six more Olympic gold medals this past decade. Bolt won the gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4x100 meter relay in both the 2012 London Summer Olympics and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics. Bolt would add eight more World Championship gold medals to his career total of 11 this decade, as well. JS

22. Inbee Park 

Inbee Park was the LPGA Tour’s greatest player of the past decade and has already put together quite the hall of fame resume at just 31 years old. Park won six major titles this decade, including three alone in 2013 when she became the fourth LPGA golfer to win three majors in a season. She also won the first ever women’s golf gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro representing her home country of South Korea. JS

21. Rory McIlroy 

Rory McIlroy burst onto the golf stage in the early part of this decade, winning his first PGA Tour event in 2010. Between 2011-2014 McIlroy was the most dominant force in golf’s major tournaments winning four of them, including the 2011 U.S. Open, the 2012 PGA Championship and both The Open Championship and PGA Championship in 2014. If there’s been one downfall of McIlroy’s career thus far it’s that he hasn’t won another major tournament since 2014. But, he’s undoubtedly been one of the most consistent golfers in the world with 18 PGA Tour wins and being named the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year in 2012, 2014 and 2019. McIlroy also became just the second golfer to win multiple Fed Ex Cup title in 2019, after previously winning it in 2016. McIlroy is only 30 years old and should be a star in the world of golf for at least the next decade. JS

20. Alexander Ovechkin

Alexander Ovechkin was already one of the NHL’s best players of the previous decade after being selected first overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2004 NHL Draft before heading into this past decade where he added to his future Hall of Fame resume. Ovechkin is one of the greatest scorers in NHL history with at least 50 goals in a season eight times totaling 673 goals in his career. Ovechkin was a seven time NHL all-star this decade, a six time goal scoring champion, a MVP winner and he led the Capitals to their first ever Stanley Cup championship in 2018. EF

19. Jimmie Johnson

Jimmie Johnson has struggled a bit of late not winning a race in his last two seasons, but the record-tying seven-time NASCAR champion was the winning championship driver of the past decade in NASCAR with three titles (2010, 2013 & 2016). Johnson’s 36 wins in the last decade are the third most in NASCAR’s premier series (behind Kyle Busch’s 40 and Kevin Harvick’s 38). Johnson is, without a doubt, one of the five greatest drivers in the history of NASCAR. JS

18. Drew Brees

Drew Brees began the decade by becoming a citywide hero in New Orleans leading the Saints to their first ever Super Bowl win on February 7, 2010 restoring a lot of happiness to the city just half a decade after the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. Brees would be named to eight Pro Bowls during the decade, while leading the NFL in touchdown passes. Brees was named Associated Press’ Athlete of the Year in 2010 and led the NFL in passing yards in half of the seasons of the decade. JS

17. Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers may have been the most fun quarterback to watch sling the ball around this past decade, as he showed on multiple occasions, he could literally throw the ball from anywhere and succeed. Rodgers won his lone Super Bowl in 2011 at the beginning of the decade, in a year in which the Associated Press named him Athlete of the Year and he won the first of his two NFL MVP awards. The six-time Pro Bowler this decade would win his second MVP in 2014. Only Drew Brees and Tom Brady had more TD passes than Rodgers this decade. JS

16. Clayton Kershaw

Despite his struggles when it’s come to the MLB postseason, there’s little doubt that Clayton Kershaw was the best pitcher in baseball during the past decade. The Los Angeles Dodgers ace has already done enough to clinch a future bust in Cooperstown. Kershaw was a five-time ERA champ this decade and led the National League in wins and strikeouts on three occasions. Kershaw was an eight-time All-Star this decade and won the N.L. Cy Young three times, while also being the league’s MVP in 2014. JS

15. Kevin Durant 

Kevin Durant was much maligned by some sports fans during the second half of the decade for deciding to join the already superpowered Golden State Warriors team for a run at a championship. In Durant’s first two seasons with Golden State they did just that – and he proved to be the best player on the team dominating two consecutive NBA Finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers and winning the NBA Finals MVP both times. Durant won the NBA MVP in 2014 with the Oklahoma City Thunder and led the league in scoring in four different seasons for the Thunder before making the move to California. Durant was an All-Star every year of the decade, named to the NBA All-First team six times and won two gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. JS

14. Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo has become one of soccer’s greatest players of all-time. He led Real Madrid to two La Liga titles, two Copa Del Reys, and four UEFA championships. He is also Real Madrid’s all-time leader in goals scored with 450. He has also been recognized as the best soccer player in the world winning Ballon d’Or four times this decade (five overall). EF

13. Katie Ledecky 

Katie Ledecky was doing things in a pool this last decade that we’ve never seen from any other woman ever in her sport. Ledecky became the Michael Phelps of women’s swimming at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics in 2016 with a massive performance claiming four Olympic gold medals and setting record after record. She also won a silver medal at the event making her the most decorated U.S. female athlete at any one Summer Olympics. Ledecky had previously won a gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle at the 2012 games in London at just 15-years old. Ledecky’s 15 World Championship golds during the decade are the most all-time by a female swimmer. JS

12. Rafael Nadal 

Known as the “King of Clay” for his record 12 French Open titles, Rafael Nadal has ended the year as the world’s number one player five times. He also has won four US Opens, two Wimbledon titles, and an Australian Open. In 2010, Nadal became the youngest male player to achieve the singles career Grand Slam. His 13 major wins this decade trailed only Novak Djokovic’s 15 for most during the decade. EF

11. Mike Trout

Mike Trout was Major League Baseball’s best player of the past decade and there’s little doubt about it. Trout won three American League Most Valuable Player Awards manning center field for the Los Angeles Angels, while winning seven Silver Sluggers and being named to eight All-Star teams. Trout was the Sabermetric king of baseball this decade leading the game in WAR (Wins Above Replacement), while hitting .305 with 285 home runs, 752 RBI and stealing 200 bases. In early 2019 Trout signed the richest contract in the history of North American sports when the Angels signed him to a 12-year, $426 million contract. There, however, is one blemish on Trout’s career and it’s his team’s inability to get the game’s best player into the playoffs. Through eight full-time seasons Trout has only played in three playoff games and hasn’t won one yet. This star who can’t compete on his sports’ biggest stage is the prime reason he’s fallen as low as he has on this list. JS

10. American Pharoah 

American Pharoah did something in 2015 that hadn’t happened in sports in nearly four decades. The thoroughbred won the Triple Crown win he came in first the Belmont Stakes after previously winning the Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Derby to become the 12th Triple Crown winner in horse racing history. Later in 2015 American Pharoah became the first horse ever to win the Grand Slam of Thoroughbred Racing by winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic. JS

9. Serena Williams 

Serena Williams is likely the most successful and greatest female athlete of all-time. Her second decade as a tennis superstar was even more successful as her first. Williams won 12 major titles this decade, one more than the 11 she won in the previous. Williams won Wimbledon four times this decade (2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016), the U.S. Open three times in three straight years from 2012-2013, the Australian Open three times (2010, 2015 and 2017) and the French Open twice (2013 and 2015). In 2015 Williams just missed out on winning the Grand Slam in one year when she was upset by Roberta Vinci in one of the biggest upsets of the decade. Williams one two gold medals this decade to go along with her 12 major titles, winning both singles and doubles at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. She was also named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year three times this decade (2013, 2015 and 2018). JS

8. Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton was clearly the most dominant driver in any professional motorsports league during the last decade. Hamilton won nearly 40 percent of the Formula 1 races he entered during the decade taking 73 total wins while leading his team to five championships, including the last three in a row. Having won a championship in the decade previously, Hamilton is only one title behind Michael Schumacher’s all-time F1 record of seven, which he’ll surely be the favorite to tie in 2020. JS

7. Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic hasn’t always gotten the same attention as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, but his 15 major wins this decade were the most of any tennis player – male or female – in the world. Djokovic is one of eight men’s tennis players to achieve the Career Grand Slam and also one of three men to win all the Grand Slams at the same time. Djokovic also won a Davis Cup title for his country of Serbia. EF

6. Stephen Curry

Rarely do you see an athlete come along in professional sports that basically changes the way the game is played, but that’s what Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry did this decade when his proficiency from beyond the three-point line. Curry’s greatest at shooting the three essentially made the game a three-point shooting one with much of the league mimicking his and the Warriors style of play. Curry led the Warriors to three championships (all against the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James) during the decade and won the league’s MVP in back-to-back seasons in 2015 and 2016. Curry was an All-Star six times this decade and led the league in scoring in 2016, while being named to the NBA’s All-First team three times. It won’t be long before Curry sets the NBA’s all-time record of three-pointers made and he’ll have done so in warp speed. JS

5. Lionel Messi

Some people would say that Cristano Ronaldo is the best soccer player in the world. Others will say that it is Lionel Messi. Our list gives the nod to Messi. Messi recently passed Ronaldo with his record sixth Ballon d’Or, as the world’s greatest soccer player (his fifth win of this decade). Throughout his time with Barcelona, Messi has 438 goals in 492 appearances. In addition, Messi has scored another 49 goals in 112 appearances while playing for his home country of Argentina. EF

4. Michael Phelps

We all thought Michael Phelps was done after a stellar decade previously in which he won 14 Olympic gold medals, especially after getting into some legal issues and seeming to be overtaken by celebrity. But Phelps came back in the 2012 London Summer Olympics still looking like the greatest swimmer in the world and winning four gold medals. After those games he retired. But retirement didn’t last long as Phelps returned, once again, for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro and still proved to be the best in the world. Phelps won five gold medals in his final Olympic games, besting his appearance four years earlier by one. Phelps’ 23 career Olympic gold medals is a record that likely will never be beaten … hell, the nine he won this decade alone are hard enough to beat. JS

3. Tom Brady

Tom Brady has to be a machine. The fact that he’s still one of the game’s best quarterbacks and leading his New England Patriots team to Super Bowl rings at the age of 41 (he’s now 42) is pretty much unheard of. Brady threw the second most touchdowns passes in the NFL (behind only Drew Brees) this decade while leading the NFL in TD passes twice and passing yards once. Brady was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2010 and 2017 and was a Pro Bowler every year of the decade. Most importantly Brady won three Super Bowls with the Pats this decade (and made the event in half of the years of the decade) to go along with the three he’d won in the prior decade, including leading his team in the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history in Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons. JS

2. Simone Biles 

Simone Biles was the greatest athlete of the decade and possibly the single most dominant athlete of her particular sport during the decade. Biles made gymnastics cool as hell in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics when she won four gold medals in Team, All-Around, Vault and Floor Exercise. Biles also took home the bronze medal in Balance Beam during those games. Biles has absolutely annihilated her competition at the Gymnastics World Championships winning an almost unbelievable 19 gold medals this decade. Her combined 30 medals at the Olympics and World Championships since 2013 makes her the most decorated American gymnast of all-time and she still has at least one more Summer Olympics appearance in her career in 2020. JS

1. LeBron James

LeBron James was the best male athlete in the world in the last decade. Up until last season, his first with the Los Angeles Lakers, James had led every team he’d been on to the NBA Finals – both with the Miami Heat and his home-state Cleveland Cavaliers after a highly publicized break-up and then reunion with the franchise. James won three championships during the decade, the first two coming as a member of Miami’s Big Three with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in 2012 and 2013 and then most gloriously leading the Cavaliers to an upset of the 73-9 Golden State Warriors in 2016. James was named the NBA Finals MVP all three years in which his team won the title. James won the league’s MVP award in 2010, 2012 and 2013 after having won it once in the decade prior. He was named to the NBA’s First-Team in nine of the 10 years during the decade, named to the Defensive First-Team four times (his defense has always been underrated) and made the All-Star team every year of the decade. Perhaps the most honored athlete in all of sports James was named the Associated Press Athlete of the Year three times and Sports lllustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year twice during the decade. On top of all of this James also won an Olympic gold medal in the 2012 games in London. JS