With Usain Bolt retired, Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal not as dominant, and Tiger Woods very good but not great, it left the door open for some new faces, even Lewis Hamilton has been on the stage for the past decade.

TOP 20: Who is Australia’s No. sports star of 2018?

In being named winner of the Ballon d’Or, Golden Ball at the World Cup and UEFA’s Player of the Year, Modric added individual awards to the Champions League trophy he claimed with Real Madrid.

And he also captained Croatia into the World Cup final.

A close second after claiming his fifth world Championship, Lewis Hamilton suddenly appeared as the F1 driver capable of surpassing the records set by the ill-feted Michael Schumacher.

Closely behind him is the ever combative Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli, with a female US basketballer in Breanna Stewart rounding out the top four, Stewart already on the verge of being acclaimed as the finest to play the game.

1. Luka Modric

Croatia, soccer

Finally, someone other than Messi or Ronaldo led the soccer world, Modric winning the Golden Ball at the World Cup, the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year and finally the Ballon d’Or. The 33-year-old also who won the Champions League with Real Madrid and captained Croatia to the World Cup final.

2. Lewis Hamilton

UK, Formula One

Love him or loathe him, and the best car or not, Hamilton is suddenly on the cusp of rewriting every record in F1 racing after claiming his fifth world championship.

3. Virat Kohli

India, cricket

Before “Sandpaper-gate”, Steve Smith rivalled Kohli as the world’s best batsman, but in all three forms of the game Kohli now has no peer.

4. Breanna Stewart

US, basketball

The WNBA MVP from Syracuse, New York, is rapidly on her way towards Greatest Of All Time status in her chosen sport

5. Marc Marquez

pain, Moto GP

Won his fifth MotoGP world championship on his trusty Honda, and the ‘Ant of Cervera’ is still just 25. Would appear on target to smash every record in his sport.

6. Katie Ledecky

US, swimming

At the 2018 Pan Pacs, Ledecky won the 400m, 800m and 1500-meter freestyle, breaking her old world record in the 1500m when swimming 15:20.48. Will she become the first women to smash 15 minutes?

7. Novak Djokovic

Serbia, tennis

A remarkable comeback to take Wimbledon and the US Open after seven straight misses in Grand Slams. Back to a resounding No.1.

8. Marit Bjorgen

Norway

Retired this year as the greatest Cross Country skier in women’s history, winning two gold medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics to take her tally to eight and gold and fifteen in total.

9. Mike Trout

US, baseball

The Millville Meteor from the Los Angeles Angels is to baseball what LeBron is to the hoops and Tom Brady to Grid Iron

10. LeBron James

US, basketball

His team won’t win the championship, and he may not be voted the NBA’s MVP, but ask anyone who is The King of the boards and it’s still LeBron.

11. Canelo Alvarez

Mexico, Boxing

With apologies to Vasiliy Lomachenko, Terence Crawford and Aleksandr Usyk, Canelo beat Golokin and then added the super middleweight title to his cupboard.

12. Cristiano Ronaldo

Portugal, soccer

The egotistical one had to settle for second in the Ballon d’Or (FIFA World Player of the Year) meaning he has finished in the top two of the award in 11 of the last 12

13. Brooks Koepka

US, golf

The No.1 ranked golfer in the world has only won five PGA events, but three of them have been majors including the US Open and PGA Championships in 2018.

14. Eliud Kipchoge

Kenya, marathon

The Olympic champion revived the chances of a sub two minute marathon when he broke the world record by 78 seconds in Berlin in September, clocking 2hr 1min 39secs.

15. Johnny Sexton

Ireland, rugby union

The 33-year-old fly-half capped his career when named World Rugby Player of the Year in 2018, becoming only the second Irish player to do so after Keith “Uncle Fester” Wood in 2001.

16. Kagiso Rabada

South Africa, cricket

“KG” this year led both the ICC Test and ODI rankings before becoming the youngest bowler to take 150 wickets in Tests (23 years and 50 days).

17. Alejandro Valverde

Spain, cycling

The dominant road cyclist of the season culminating in the UCI Road World Championships men’s road race in Innsbruck, Austria.

18. Chase Kalisz

US, swimming

His fitted smugly into the void left by Michael Phelps, now holding world records for both the 200m and 400m Individual Medleys.

19. Kevin Mayer

France, decathlon

The world’s greatest all-round athlete after he smashed Ashton Eaton’s decathlon record. Where he sits in this list depends on where you rank decathletes.

20. Tom Makinson

England, rugby league

Was voted Rugby League World Golden Boot winner after being the catalyst in England’s 2-1 series victory over New Zealand, including a hat-trick in the second Test at Anfield.

ANDO’S 2017 LIST

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer, Portugal)

2. Roger Federer (tennis, Switzerland)

3. Lionel Messi (soccer, Argentina)

4. Katie Ledecky (swimming, US)

5. LeBron James (basketball, US)

6. Lewis Hamilton (Formula One, England)

7. Mikaela Shiffrin (alpine skiing, US)

8. Cameron Smith (rugby league, Australia)

9. Tom Brady (NFL, US)

10. Peter Sagan (cycling, Slovakia)

11. Giancarlo Stanton (baseball, US)

12. Rafael Nadal (tennis, Spain)

13. Nafissatou “Nafi” Thiam (heptathlon, Belgium)

14. Sidney Crosby (ice hockey, Canada)

15. Beauden Barrett (rugby union, New Zealand)

16. Caeleb Dressel (swimming, US)

17. Justin Thomas (golf, US)

18. Lieke Martens (soccer, Netherlands)

19. Steve Smith (cricket, Australia)

20. Virat Kohli (cricket, India)