Naming the best athletes of all time across different sports is extremely challenging, mostly because there’s little common ground to compare them. Comparing a golfer with a Formula 1 star feels impossible, even if they’re both legends of their sport, because how do you measure who’s better? If you do try and judge one as better than the other, fans of the other sport will undoubtedly challenge your assertions because of the knowledge and biases they hold.

Rafael Nadal is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, but he has repeatedly found himself at the heart of a debate in tennis: Who is the greatest between himself, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic? Nadal is the King of Clay with 81 consecutive wins on the surface, the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era. The Spaniard has won a record 14 French Open titles on the clay courts of Roland Garros.

He has also won 92 ATP Tour singles titles, with 22 Grand Slams, 36 Masters titles, and an Olympic gold medal. He is one of only three men to complete the career Golden Slam of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, and the Olympics in singles, alongside Djokovic and Andre Agassi. Of those 92 wins, 63 of them came on clay, cementing his prowess on those courts.

The Mallorcan became one of the most successful teenagers in ATP Tour history, reaching number two in the world and winning 16 titles before the age of 20. He was the youngest male tennis player to achieve the Career Grand Slam aged 24 before his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz took the record aged 22, after winning the Australian Open in 2026.

Now, Rafa has named his top 10 greatest athletes of all time, but there’s a notable exclusion: Roger Federer. This exclusion is shocking, but who has the 39-year-old included over him?

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is the first name on his list. Widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Jordan was a six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls and is regarded as popularising the sport.

Air Jordan was a two-time Olympic champion with the United States and a 10-time NBA scoring leader. Larry Bird described him as ‘God disguised as Jordan’ after he set the single-game playoff record of 63 points against the Boston Celtics in 1986.

Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus is listed second. Widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time, Nicklaus won 117 professional tournaments in his career, including a record 18 Major championships.

He became the first player to win The Masters in back-to-back years, and holds the record for the most Masters victories, with six, and the most Players Championships, with three. By winning The Masters, the 1963 PGA Championship, and the 1966 Open Championship, he became the youngest player at the time to complete the Career Grand Slam, aged 26.

Tiger Woods

Another golfer in Tiger Woods also made the cut. Woods is tied with Sam Snead for the most PGA Tour wins and ranks second in men’s Major championships with 15. He is the youngest to achieve the Career Grand Slam and is the only player to have consecutively won all four Majors.

The American has spent the most consecutive and cumulative weeks atop the world rankings and has been heralded as ‘the greatest closer in history’ by golf experts, with a record of 14-1 when going into the closing round of a Major with at least a portion of the lead.

Novak Djokovic

The aforementioned Djokovic was next to be named, which further raises eyebrows as to Federer’s exclusion. The Serbian has been ranked as the world number one by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for a record 428 weeks, has finished as the year-end number one a record eight times, and has been ranked number one at least once in a year for a record 13 different years.

Djokovic has won a record 24 Grand Slams, including a record 10 Australian Open titles, a record 40 Masters, and an Olympic gold medal. He is the only man in tennis history to be the reigning champion of all four Grand Slams simultaneously across three different surfaces and, in singles, is the only man to achieve a triple Grand Slam and win all the Big Titles over the course of his career and achieve a Career Golden Masters twice.

Muhammad Ali

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali was fifth on the list through his reputation as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, with 56 wins and five losses in his career and 37 victories by knockout.

Ali remains the only three-time lineal heavyweight champion and his joint records of beating 21 boxers for the world heavyweight title and winning 14 unified title bouts stood for 35 years. He fought the ‘Fight of the Century’ against Joe Frazier, which is considered the biggest boxing match in history. It was the first time ever that two undefeated boxers who held the world heavyweight title would fight each other. While Ali would go on to lose, it showed his stardom as it was arguably the most anticipated and publicised sporting event of all time.

Michael Schumacher

Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher also forms part of Nadal’s list. The German holds the joint-most Drivers’ Championships in Formula 1 history, alongside Lewis Hamilton with seven and revitalised Ferrari, who hadn’t won a Drivers’ Championship since 1979.

He broke Juan Manuel Fangio’s record of consecutive titles, which had stood for nearly 50 years and took 91 wins, 155 podiums, and 68 pole positions, and maintains the record for the most fastest laps with 77.

Usain Bolt

Eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt was also mentioned. The Jamaican is regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time and is a world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4×100 metres relay. He is the only sprinter to win Olympic 100 and 200 metre titles at three consecutive Olympics in 2008, 2012, and 2016, and gained worldwide recognition for his double sprint victory in world record times at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, making him the first person to hold both records since a fully automatic time was required.

Michael Phelps

Another Olympian in Michael Phelps was hailed. With 28 medals across four Olympic Games, Phelps has won more Olympic medals than any other athlete and holds the all-time record for Olympic gold medals with 23, Olympic gold medals in individual events with 13, and Olympic medals in individual events with 16. He is the current record holder in the 4x100m freestyle relay and 4x200m freestyle relay, and has won 82 medals in major international long course competitions with 65 gold, 14 silver, and three bronze medals spanning the Olympics, the World Championships, and the Pan Pacific championships.

Diego Maradona

Diego Maradona also makes Nadal’s list. The Argentine is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of football. While he achieved infamy for his unpenalised handball against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final, known as the ‘Hand of God’, his second goal has gone down in the history books for its sheer excellence following a 60m dribble past five England players, which was voted as the ‘Goal of the Century’ by FIFA.com voters in 2002. He would ultimately guide Argentina to victory in 1986 with a pivotal assist to Jorge Barruchaga to make it 3-2 against West Germany.

Maradona also guided Napoli to their first Serie A title in history in the 1986-1987 season and would win the Coppa Italia in the same year, winning their second Serie A title three years later. He won the Copa del Rey with Barcelona and has achieved much acclaim for his vision, passing, ball control, and dribbling abilities. His diminutive stature allowed him to glide past players, and he combined this with a keen eye for goal and a talent for free-kicks.

Pele

It is Pele who is the last name on the list and his achievements are legendary. One of the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century, the Brazilian holds a Guinness World Record for scoring 1,279 goals in 1,363 games, including friendlies. He won three World Cup titles with Brazil in 1958, 1962, and 1970, becoming the only player to do so and the youngest World Cup winner aged just 17 and the youngest goalscorer for the nation.

He held the record as the national team’s top goalscorer for 50 years with 77 goals in 92 games before being toppled by Neymar. Pele is also Santos’ all-time top goalscorer with 643 goals in 659 games, winning two Copa Libertadores and two Intercontinental Cups.

Nicknamed O Rei (the King), he averaged almost a goal a game throughout his career and could score with either foot, providing assists with his excellent vision and passing ability. He is credited with hailing football as ‘the beautiful game’ and scored a hat-trick against Benfica in Santos’ 1962 Intercontinental Cup win, with Benfica’s goalkeeper Costa Pereira remarking: “I arrived hoping to stop a great man, but I went away convinced I had been undone by someone who was not born on the same planet as the rest of us.”

Nadal has certainly picked a star-studded list of sporting legends, though, he himself is undoubtedly part of that conversation. While it would be unfair to choose just one as the best ever athlete, ignoring the others’ prowess, we have been lucky to be surrounded by such talent, and if Nadal were to do another list after a few years, who’s to say that there wouldn’t be some new legends on the scene?