# The 14 Greatest Comebacks in Sports History

> Careers written off and then rewritten. Exile, injury, illness and collapse, and the returns that followed.

*By YPB Team · Published August 23, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-14-greatest-comebacks-in-sports-history*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Muhammad Ali** — score 1000/1000
   Stripped of his title and exiled from boxing for three years, he returned and regained it in 1974.
2. **Tiger Woods** — score 952/1000
   Won the 2019 Masters after years of back surgeries.
3. **Alex Smith** — score 685/1000
   Came back to the NFL after a compound leg fracture and 17 operations.
4. **Mario Lemieux** — score 633/1000
   Returned from Hodgkin's lymphoma and won the scoring title the same season.
5. **Niki Lauda** — score 548/1000
   Nearly died in a fiery 1976 crash and was racing again six weeks later.
6. **Serena Williams** — score 548/1000
   Came back from a pulmonary embolism to win more majors than she had before it.
7. **George Foreman** — score 548/1000
   Regained a heavyweight title in 1994, twenty years after losing his first.
8. **Ben Hogan** — score 464/1000
   Almost killed in a 1949 head-on collision, he won the US Open the next year.
9. **Valentino Rossi** — score 365/1000
   Broke his leg mid-season in 2010 and was back on the bike within six weeks.
10. **Monica Seles** — score 365/1000
   Stabbed on court in 1993, she returned two years later and won another major.
11. **Peyton Manning** — score 365/1000
   Missed a full season with a neck injury, then won an MVP and a Super Bowl in Denver.
12. **Petra Kvitova** — score 249/1000
   Recovered from a knife attack that badly damaged her playing hand.
13. **Tyson Fury** — score 249/1000
   Left boxing amid depression and addiction, then returned to the heavyweight summit.
14. **Andre Agassi** — score 110/1000
   Fell to No. 141 in the world in 1997, then finished 1999 as No. 1.

Tags: sports, comeback