Ranking the top 100 professional athletes since 2000

The greatest athlete of the 21st century? That's easy. It has to be Tom Brady, the quarterback of the greatest dynasty America's favorite sport has ever seen, a seven-time Super Bowl champ and five-time Super Bowl MVP. Yep. Tom Brady.

Except. Except it has to be Lionel Messi, the best player in the world's favorite sport, an eight-time Ballon d'Or winner as the footballer of the year. Yep, definitely Messi.

Except ... no ... LeBron James, right? Four-time NBA champ, four-time Finals MVP, four-time regular-season MVP, 20-time All-NBA, most points scored in NBA history. No athlete has dominated the public conversation like LeBron has. He has to be No. 1.

Except, what about Serena Williams? Winner of 23 Grand Slam titles, the Serena Slam (holding all four major titles at the same time) and four Olympic gold medals. And she got her final Grand Slam event win while pregnant, putting her career on hold while she was at her most dominant.

Except, if you are going to pick a tennis player, what about Roger Federer? He transformed an entire sport with his artistry, his chess game on the court, his blazing forehand. He won 20 Grand Slam titles and became the most beloved tennis player of all time. Gotta be Fed.

Yeah, except Rafael Nadal won 22 Grand Slam titles and Novak Djokovic has won 24. You have to pick one of them over Federer.

Hmm. Maybe this isn't so easy. We didn't even mention the Olympians: Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles. Or Kobe. Gotta throw Kobe Bryant into the discussion. Or Lewis Hamilton. Or Peyton Manning. Or Floyd Mayweather. Or Tiger. Geez, almost forgot about Tiger Woods.

Yes, ranking the top 100 most accomplished athletes since 2000 wasn't quite so easy after all -- but it sure was fun. Twenty-five years ago, the ESPN SportsCentury project ranked the top 100 North American athletes of the 20th century. Michael Jordan came in first, followed by Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Wayne Gretzky. (Ruth should have been No. 1, but hey, I'm a baseball writer.) We also ranked a horse: Secretariat came

With so many transcendent athletes over the past 25 years, we thought it was time to do another ranking. I promise you there are no horses this time (sorry, American Pharoah). In considering the best athletes of the 21st century, however, we have expanded our choices beyond North America. ESPN editions from around the globe contributed to the nominations and voting process, as well as the individual sport list rankings that will follow.

Voters were instructed to consider only an athlete's performance since 2000. So, for Barry Bonds: He won seven MVP awards, but only four of those came after 2000, as did 317 of his 762 home runs. Or Ken Griffey Jr.: He played until 2010, but all of his best seasons came in the 1990s. Tiger won 13 of his 15 majors from 2000 on, so he's in good shape. Other athletes, such as Patrick Mahomes or Nikola Jokic or Shohei Ohtani, obviously have more greatness ahead of them, so we'll see how high their accomplishments so far get them on the list.

In the end, we received more than 70,000 votes from ESPN contributors to create our top 100.

1. Michael Phelps, swimming

Key accomplishments: Record 28-time Olympic medalist, 23-time Olympic gold medalist, most gold medals at a single Olympics when he won eight at Beijing in 2008

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Phelps earned a historic eight gold medals, more than any athlete in a single Olympics, while breaking world records in seven of his eight races. Throughout the Games, fans and members of the media tried to crack the code on what made Phelps -- who eventually won 23 Olympic gold medals and became the most decorated Olympian of all time -- so unbeatable. His mother, Debbie Phelps, was in Beijing, and often fielded their questions. Was it his size-14 feet? His extra-long arms? His breakfast regimen? "No," Debbie answered repeatedly. "It's his hard work

2. Serena Williams, tennis

Key accomplishments: 23-time major champion (second most by any player all time), women's record 365 major match wins, 73 career titles are fifth most by a woman in the Open era

There is little that Williams didn't achieve during her record-setting career, including winning 23 major titles. But it might have been her last one that was the most improbable. She needed to win one more Grand Slam to break the tie with Steffi Graf for most in the Open era (which began in 1968) -- a mark Williams said she had been "chasing for a really long time" -- and remained in the 2017 Australian Open draw even after finding out she was pregnant shortly before competition began. She was in peak Serena form, never dropping a set en route to a final showdown with her sister Venus. She defeated Venus to take sole ownership of the record.

Williams played in four more major finals after her return from maternity leave and a complicated childbirth. She didn't win another title. "The way I see it, I should have had 30-plus Grand Slams," Williams wrote in Vogue in a 2022 essay announcing her impending retirement. "I didn't get there ... But I showed up 23 times, and that's fine. Actually it's extraordinary

3. Lionel Messi, soccer

Key accomplishments: 10-time LaLiga champion, seven-time Copa del Rey winner, four-time Champions League winner, six-time Champions League top scorer, 17-time FIFA FIFPRO World 11, World Cup winner, two-time Copa America winner, two-time FIFA World Cup Golden Ball winner, eight-time Ballon d'Or winner, record goal scorer for Barcelona and Argentina

Messi winning the World Cup in Argentina in 2022 was perhaps the biggest Hollywood ending that soccer has ever seen. After losing the 2014 final, it looked like it would never happen for Messi, who had won everything else in the game for club and country, but the crowning moment of his career finally arrived at age 34. He scored twice in the final as Argentina beat France on penalties, sparking an outpouring of emotion and celebrations around the globe. "This guy transcends rivalries -- even between Brazil and Argentina," Brazil legend Ronaldo said. "I saw Brazilians and people all over the world rooting for Messi. It's a fitting finale for a genius who has marked an era

4. LeBron James, basketball

Key accomplishments: NBA 75th Anniversary team, NBA's all-time scoring leader, 20-time All-Star, 19-time All-NBA selection, six-time All-Defense, four-time MVP, four-time Finals MVP, four-time NBA champion, three-time All-Star Game MVP

The "48 special" game happened 17 years ago this spring. That's when James scored 29 of the last 30 points for the Cleveland Cavaliers in a double-overtime upset Game 5 road win against the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals. The 48-point game was a mesmerizing performance that stands as one of the classic games of this century ... and it probably doesn't even rank in the top 10 of James' playoff performances. It might not be one of his top three conference finals games. This is what James' greatness rests on: No one has ever been this good for this long. That long-ago night in the Palace of Auburn Hills is merely one of 29 40-point games James has in the playoffs alone.

That win paved the way to his first Finals, starting a run of 10 appearances in 14 years. During that stretch he won four NBA titles, four MVPs and four Finals MVPs with three different teams, as well as two Olympic gold medals. He also won at least one road game in 29 consecutive playoff series. He has scored in double figures in 1,222 consecutive regular-season games -- the last time he didn't, his son Bronny, now his Laker teammate, was 2 years old. Volume isn't a vogue way to measure achievement in the NBA anymore, and it lends credence to those who want to push James down all-time lists. It's the only side of the argument to take against James, who has essentially renamed the NBA's record book for himself

5. Tom Brady, football

Key accomplishments: Seven-time Super Bowl champion, five-time Super Bowl MVP, three-time NFL MVP, two-time AP Offensive POY, 15-time Pro Bowler, three-time first-team All-Pro, NFL record for career passing yards/TDs

When Brady was asked which of his seven Super Bowl rings was his favorite, he was fond of answering: "The next one." That sums up the player whom Bill Belichick referred to as the "ultimate winner" who often played his best when the stakes were highest. Belichick noted how Brady entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick "with little to no fanfare" and left "as the most successful player in league history." Said Belichick: "His relentless pursuit of excellence drove him on a daily basis. His work ethic and desire to win were both motivational and inspirational to teammates and coaches alike

6. Roger Federer, tennis

Key accomplishments: 20-time major champion, 369 majors wins, eight Wimbledon titles (most by a man all time), 103 tour singles titles (second most by man in Open era)

It's not unusual for a professional athlete to feel emotional during their final match or game before retiring. But what is unusual is when everyone else in the competition is equally emotional about it. Such was the case for Federer during the last match of his career at the Laver Cup -- an event he co-founded -- in 2022. Having previously announced a doubles match alongside Rafael Nadal would be his swan song, Nadal -- his fiercest of rivals for nearly 20 years -- cried right alongside him when it was over, as did Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, the rest of their European teammates and even Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe, their opponents from the World team. "I think we are all going to be forever grateful to be a part of the GOAT's final match," Sock said later.