# Who made the greatest comeback in sports history?

> A crash, an illness, a ban, an operation nobody comes back from. Each of these athletes was written off, and each returned to win something afterwards. The medical charts are not comparable and neither are the sports, which is exactly what makes it an argument.

*By YPB Team · Published August 4, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/who-made-the-greatest-comeback-in-sports-history*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Serena Williams**
   Survived a pulmonary embolism after childbirth in 2017 and reached a Grand Slam final nine months later.
2. **Tiger Woods**
   Won the 2019 Masters after four back operations and eleven years without a major.
3. **Niki Lauda**
   Raced again six weeks after the 1976 Nurburgring crash that gave him the last rites.
4. **Muhammad Ali**
   Regained the heavyweight title in Zaire after three and a half years banned from boxing.
5. **Monica Seles**
   Returned to win a Grand Slam title after being stabbed on court in 1993.
6. **Ben Hogan**
   Won six more majors after a head-on collision with a bus nearly killed him in 1949.
7. **Mario Lemieux**
   Came back from Hodgkin's lymphoma and radiation to win the NHL scoring title the same season.
8. **George Foreman**
   Regained the heavyweight title at 45, twenty years after losing it.
9. **Kim Clijsters**
   Won the US Open as an unranked wildcard and a mother, two years after retiring.
10. **Bethany Hamilton**
   Returned to competitive surfing and won a national title after losing an arm to a shark.
11. **Alex Smith**
   Played in the NFL again after 17 operations and a leg infection that nearly cost his life.
12. **Peyton Manning**
   Won a Super Bowl after neck surgery left him unable to throw a spiral.
13. **Magic Johnson**
   Returned to the NBA All-Star Game and the Olympics after announcing his HIV diagnosis.
14. **Michael Jordan**
   Left basketball for baseball, came back, and won three more NBA titles.
15. **Robert Kubica**
   Returned to Formula 1 after a rally crash that nearly severed his right arm.
16. **Petra Kvitova**
   Won a Grand Slam final place again after a knife attack damaged the tendons in her playing hand.
17. **Andy Murray**
   Played on for five more years after a metal hip resurfacing in 2019.
18. **Christian Eriksen**
   Returned to international football with an implanted defibrillator after a cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.

Tags: sports, athletes, legends, comebacks, inspiration