The 10 best sporting comebacks of the decade 2010-2019
From Ash Barty’s triumphant return to tennis to Tiger Woods winning the Masters and Serena Williams making two grand slam finals after giving birth to her daughter. We rank the 10 biggest sporting comebacks of the decade.
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Comebacks. They can come in all forms and all sports.
From fallen stars returning to the big time to an individual or team stumbling and looking beaten only to roar back to a famous win, we’ve been treated to a heap over the past 10 years.
As we come to the end of another decade, we’re taking a look back at the best sports comebacks.
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1. ALL ABOARD THE BARTY PARTY
What a return. In 2014 the former child prodigy needed a break from tennis so decided to take an indefinite break. After playing professional cricket in the WBBL with Brisbane Heat, she decided to return to tennis in 2016 – ranked in the thousands. Few could have foreseen her meteoric rise since. Barty won her first WTA title in 2017 before becoming a genuine big-time player. The 23-year-old’s game continued to spike and in 2019 reached all new levels, with the Aussie capturing her first grand slam title when she won the French Open in June. The humble Queenslander then put an exclamation mark on her incredible season by earning tennis’ biggest cash prize with victory at the WTA Finals, finishing the year ranked No.1.
2. TIGER THE MASTER ONCE AGAIN
The biggest name in the game broke through for major No.15 with an epic win at the 2019 Masters – more than decade after his previous major title. Tiger had showed he was back by claiming the Tour Championship in September 2018 in front of a pulsing gallery of thousands. But his remarkable comeback was made complete at Augusta when, after overcoming numerous injury issues and off-course controversies, he proved too consistent for rivals on a magical Sunday in April to win his fifth green jacket. The scenes upon his 18th hole tap-in will long live in the memory of sports fans across the globe.
3. SMITH RISES FROM THE ASHES
We might be a tad parochial with this one but Steve Smith’s incredible return in the Ashes – after a 12-month suspension for his role in the ball-tampering scandal – will go down in Australian cricket folklore. After the darkest year in the game’s history for his country, the hype around Smith and David Warner’s return to the national side was at fever-pitch levels. If the World Cup was the entree, the main course was something else. Smith’s staggering 2019 Ashes series with the bat, in which he made 774 runs at an average of 110, ensured Australia retained the coveted urn. Not even a vicious bouncer and subsequent concussion which forced him to miss a Test could stop his record-breaking feats as the local press declared our man ‘The new Bradman’. Not a bad compliment.
4. LEBRON BRINGS TITLE HOME (2016)
This was a comeback in more ways than one. The King had done just that – come back – and then he delivered what he promised he would. Some Cleveland Cavaliers fans had loathed LeBron James for leaving for Miami. But LeBron capped the greatest homecoming of all by leading his hometown to a drought-breaking title – in dramatic fashion. The Cavs trailed the Golden State Warriors 3-1 in the NBA Finals. No team in history had previously overcome that deficit in the best-of-seven format. They also trailed by seven points halfway through Game 5. But LeBron, with Kyrie Irving and Aussie Matthew Dellavedova riding shotgun, defied history to lift the Cavs to a historic title.
5. SERENA RETURNS TO THE BIG TIME
Serena Williams was back on court just five months after giving birth to daughter Olympia – and it didn’t take long for her to get back in the groove. Serena was in the early stages of pregnancy when she won the 2017 Australian Open against sister Venus. She gave birth in September that year but amazingly was back on court by February 2018. The swift return came after she revealed she “almost died” following complications from the birth. The game’s most iconic player made a winning return to grand slam tennis by winning her first match at the French Open, and went on to make the final at both Wimbledon and the US Open. The 23-time grand slam winner remains on the hunt for slam No.24.
6. BRADY BOWLS ‘EM OVER AGAIN (2017)
When one thinks Super Bowl, the mind tends to shift to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. But few could have foreseen the stunning events that saw quarterback Brady steer his team to the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. It simply wasn’t happening for the Pats in the first half as the Atlanta Falcons shut down the Pats’ offence and took a commanding 21-3 lead. When the Falcons scored again to take a 25-point advantage most were thinking hammering. Not Brady, who kept his cool, started finding open targets and engineered an incredible win. Brady threw for 466 yards and two touchdowns on his way to his fifth Super Bowl win and his fourth MVP in American football’s biggest game.
7. MAN CITY BACK FROM THE DEAD (2012)
The equation was simple. On the final day of the Premier League season Manchester City needed to beat lowly Queen’s Park Rangers to seal their first title in 44 years. But as often happens in sport, things didn’t go to script. Some City fans had already headed for the exits when their team trailed 2-1 entering stoppage time. But five minutes later City was celebrating after Edin Dzeko equalised and then Sergio Aguero scored a final-minute winner. The amazing finale capped the most dramatic conclusion to a season in history as City edged Man United for the title on goal difference.
8. NO-ONE SAW ORACLE COMING (2013)
It might not be high on the radar, but Team USA’s effort to come back and win the 2013 America’s Cup over Emirates Team New Zealand goes down as one of sport’s great comebacks. Skippered by Australian Jimmy Spithill, Oracle Team USA trailed the best-of-17 race series 6-0 and then 8-1 before some tinkering with their boat saw the home nation sail into history folklore. After his crew got on the board on day six, the scoreboard still read 7-1 but some, including Spithill, sensed a change in momentum. “Imagine if these guys lost from here? What an upset that would be,” he said. The rest is history.
9. THE MIRACLE ON GRASS (2013)
Geelong was second on the AFL ladder and cruising to another finals appearance when it headed to the Gabba for the final match of Round 13. When they led by 38 points at the final break – and by more than 50 points in the third term – many turned off the telly. But the Brisbane Lions had other ideas. Goal after goal had the home crowd roaring, but the Cats looked to have done enough – the ball was inside Geelong’s forward 50 with 15 seconds remaining – to hang on. But the Lions surged the ball forward and milestone man Ash McGrath, playing game 200, marked on the siren just inside 50. He went back and from outside 50, helped his side pull off what had half an hour earlier seemed an unwinnable game.
10.ROGER RETURNS TO THE MAIN STAGE (2017)
It had been almost five years since Roger Federer had won a major title when he arrived at Melbourne Park at the start of 2017. Many thought the man considered the GOAT, who had battled a knee injury in the back half of the previous season, wouldn't again lift a major trophy. How wrong they were. In one of the greatest and most gripping finals in grand slam history, ‘Fed’ lifted his weary legs and outlasted fellow legend Rafael Nadal. He had to overcome a fifth-set break to land a record-extending 18th grand slam. He has since won two more majors to take his haul to 20.
Originally published as The 10 best sporting comebacks of the decade 2010-2019