Roger Federer retiring from tennis got us thinking; who is the most dominant athlete since 2000?

Today, we’ll be looking at an article written by White Wolf Sports which analyses the most dominant athletes and their accomplishments. It was published back in 2018, but let's be honest, no one would have entered this list over the past four years.

Many professional athletes across all sports have put their mark on their respective fields, courts, tracks and just about any other sporting environment you can think of since 2000.

Most dominant athletes since 2000

Coming in at number 20, it is the late and very great Kobe Bryant. “The Black Mamba” alongside Shaquille O’Neal won three NBA championships in a row from 2000 to 2002 and was an 11-time First Team All-NBA player.

At number 19 is another former NBA player in Tim Duncan. The five-time NBA champion was a force to be reckoned with both offensively and defensively in his career at the centre position.

Sitting in the number 18 spot we have a titan of tennis in Novak Djokovic, who has been one of the sport’s most impactful players in recent years after winning many major honours.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 10: Novak Djokovic of Serbia poses for a photo with the trophy following his victory against Nick Kyrgios of Australia during their Men's Singles Final match on day fourteen of The Championships Wimbledon 2022 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 10, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

We decided to combine 16 and 15 as they both come from the same sport, where we have arguably football’s greatest ever players in Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, respectively.

We’re going to shorten the remainder of this list in clusters, with the name of the athlete and their sport and/or associated league in brackets to get this moving along a bit further until we get to the top five.

At numbers 14-11, we have Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR), Mike Trout (baseball), Peyton Manning (NFL) and Albert Pujols (baseball).

The top 10 most dominant

Coming in at numbers 10-6, we have Rafael Nadal (tennis), LeBron James (NBA), Barry Bonds (baseball), Serena Williams (tennis) and Usain Bolt (sprinting).

NEW YORK - MAY 31: Jamaica's Usain Bolt celebrates after winning the Men's 100m at the Reebok Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium at Randalls Island Park on May 31, 2008 in New York City. Bolt set a new world record, covering the distance in 9.72 seconds. (Photo by: Victah Sailer/Getty Images)

Kicking off the top five we have tennis’ Roger Federer, who announced his retirement yesterday but there is absolutely no doubt he’s the best to ever step foot on a court. He has the most amount of Wimbledon titles with eight and once spent a record 237 weeks as the game’s No.1 player in the world.

Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather enters the list at number four, whose accomplishments speak for themselves after a monumental 50-0 career, which included title wins in five different weight classes.

Tiger Woods comes in at number three and his many championship wins at the Masters, US Open, Open Championship and PGA Championships speak for themselves.

Entering at number two they Michael Phelps, who has won an astonishing 23 gold medals at the Olympics alone. He was shockingly left off ESPN’s list.

At number one and sitting at the very top of the list is the NFL’s Tom Brady. The sport’s greatest quarterback has won seven Super Bowls across both his tenures with the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Which of these athletes is your favourite and do you think the list is a fair assessment of sport in the last 20 years?