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Rank 122Up 2
#12 in Athletes of All Time
of 20 ranked entries
Roger Federer
Tennis · Switzerland · 1998–2022
Twenty Grand Slam titles and 237 consecutive weeks at world No. 1 — still the record — built the modern template that Nadal and Djokovic later matched but never quite erased. The one-handed backhand alone is still taught as the sport’s aesthetic ideal. Recorded specifics: sport Tennis, active from 1998, major titles 20. Panel highlighted 237 consecutive weeks at world No. 1, a men’s record that still stands, reached 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals from 2005 to 2007 and widely credited with globalising men’s tennis commercially. The reservation on record is finished his rivalry with Nadal trailing in the head-to-head record.
Tennis
Score breakdown
How Roger Federer earned 83
Each criterion is scored independently, then combined using the weights published on Athletes of All Time.
- Dominance over era’s competitionweight 30%
- 82.3
- Longevity at an elite levelweight 25%
- 80.9
- Championship & medal résuméweight 25%
- 85.2
- Cultural & historical impactweight 20%
- 83.8
On the record
Recorded detail
| Sport | Tennis |
|---|---|
| Active from | 1998 |
| Major titles | 20 |
| GOAT score | 9.3 |
Panel verdict
Strengths and reservations
What it gets right
- 237 consecutive weeks at world No. 1, a men’s record that still stands
- Reached 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals from 2005 to 2007
- Widely credited with globalising men’s tennis commercially
Where it gives ground
- Finished his rivalry with Nadal trailing in the head-to-head record
1 appearance
Where this entry ranks
From the same list
Ranked alongside it
Rank 01Editor’s pickMichael Jordan
Basketball · Chicago Bulls · 1984–2003
Six trips to the Finals, six championships, six Finals MVPs — a title-conversion rate nothing else in team sports has matched. The competitive ferocity is as much the legend as the fadeaway.
97.2/100 Top 49 score—No change
Rank 02Editor’s pickMuhammad Ali
Boxing · Heavyweight · 1960–1981
Beat Liston, Frazier and Foreman in fights that still define their eras, and did it after a three-year exile for refusing the Vietnam draft cost him what should have been his physical prime. The politics are inseparable from the ranking.
96.0/100 Top 49 score1Down 1
Rank 03Editor’s pickPelé
Soccer · Brazil · 1956–1977
The only man to win three World Cups, the last of them as a 29-year-old anchoring Brazil’s 1970 side, arguably the finest team ever assembled. Statistics from the amateur-adjacent fixtures of his early career are disputed; the World Cup record is not.
94.6/100 Top 49 score2Down 2
Rank 04Usain Bolt
Track & Field · Jamaica · 2002–2017
Ran 9.58 seconds for 100 metres in Berlin in 2009, a mark nobody has come within a tenth of since. Won gold in the 100m and 200m at three consecutive Olympics, a sprint double no one had repeated even once before him.
93.5/100 Top 49 score3Down 3
Rank 05Serena Williams
Tennis · United States · 1995–2022
Twenty-three Grand Slam singles titles, the Open-Era record, won across three different decades against opponents who built entire careers around beating her serve. Went from teenage upstart to a 35-year-old winning the Australian Open roughly eight weeks pregnant.
91.9/100 Top 49 score1Up 1
Rank 06Michael Phelps
Swimming · United States · 2000–2016
Twenty-eight Olympic medals, twenty-three of them gold — both records by margins that make the runner-up look distant. Eight golds at a single Games in Beijing 2008 is unlikely ever to be threatened.
90.5/100 Top 49 score4Down 4
Rank 07Wayne Gretzky
Ice Hockey · Oilers, Kings · 1979–1999
“The Great One” retired with more career assists alone than any other player has ever recorded in total points — goals, assists and points combined. Alex Ovechkin finally caught his career goals record in 2025; the points total remains untouchable.
88.8/100 Top 49 score3Up 3
Rank 08Babe Ruth
Baseball · Red Sox, Yankees · 1914–1935
Retired with 714 home runs, a total so far beyond his contemporaries that Ruth personally outhomered entire opposing teams in some seasons. Started as a dominant left-handed pitcher before Boston converted him into the sport’s first true power hitter.
88.3/100 Top 49 score4Up 4
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