Who are the Top 100 Athletes of the 21st Century? Recently, ESPN conducted a vote including experts in individual sports by asking them to rank the top athletes in their respective sports since January 1, 2000. Interestingly, each vote was presented with two randomly selected names and they were asked to pick one in between those whom they thought had a better career in the 21st century. They received more than 70,00 votes from ESPN contributors to create the list of the Top 100. Several tennis stars were featured on that list, but it was Serena Williams who led the pack. Fans came out in numbers to give their reactions to the ‘Queen of the Court’ dominating women athletes on that list.
There were six players selected from the racquet sport. The list was heavily dominated by American athletes (56) and, among the top ten, 7 are from the US. However, there are only two women in the Top 10, Serena Williams is placed in the second spot, while American superstar gymnast Simone Biles is ranked seventh in the list of Top 100 Athletes of the 21st century.
The record 28-time Olympic medalist, Michale Phelps (swimming), sits at the top of the list. He’s followed by the American tennis legend and 23-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams. She has won 73 titles in her career and that’s the fifth most by a woman in the Open Era. Her contributions to the racquet sport are enormous.
Talking about racquet sport, 20-time major title winner Roger Federer was ranked sixth on that list and he’s the second one after Williams to represent this beautiful sport. Then Novak Djokovic (11) and Rafael Nadal (12) followed that list but after that, there was a huge gap between them. The next ones from the tennis world were the British tennis star Andy Murray (80) and Venus Williams (86). Serena Williams’ elder sister’s ranking has raised the eyebrows of many, but fans are happy to see Serena leading the women on that list!
Fans react to Serena Williams holding the top spot among female athletes in the list of ESPN’s Top 100 Athletes of the 21st Century
Serena Williams is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. However, her popularity is not just restricted to the tennis world; she has gained fame for her brilliance all over the world. Do you know she was ranked world number one in singles for almost 319 weeks? Williams on the court was pure bliss to watch during her playing days.
She is, in fact, the only player to accomplish a Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. Michael Phelps is no doubt a legend in the world of sports, but fans expected someone else to top the list. One of them wrote, “How is Serena not #1?” Perhaps the fan was a bit shocked to see her as the second-best on that list!
Some of them were also shocked to see Serena Williams’ sister’s ranking on the list of Top 100 Athletes of the 21st Century. The former American Alpine skier, Lindsey Vonn, was among those fans. She wrote, “I don’t agree with any of these rankings except Serena. Have major problems with Venus, which is so low also.” Venus Williams in 86th place made some of the fans think that the voters need to perhaps rethink a bit now. “Venus at #86, rethink that. She should have been wayyy closer to the top.“
While some of the fans felt Simone Biles should have been placed much higher than her current ranking. The American gymnast currently sits in seventh place, i.e. five places behind Serena Williams. Biles is a seven-time Olympic medalist and that’s in fact tied for the most number of medals by an American gymnast. The 27-year-old American artistic gymnast is the ninth-most decorated female Olympic gymnast. Seeing her stature in the gymnastics world, some of the fans opined, “Simone should be above Serena.“ That’s quite an interesting take, isn’t it?
