Rafael Nadal's RG run voted as most dominant feat by any athlete, ahead of Bolt & Phelps

Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros is the most dominant athlete of the 21st century, ahead of even Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps. Well, at least the readers of ESPN India think so!

The website recently conducted a bracket polling tournament, where some of the most dominant individual athletes and teams of the 21st century were pitted against each other. And tennis fans, or should we say a specific set of tennis fans, would be happy to know that the most dominant feat in tennis is widely recognized as the most dominant feat across all sports.

Rafael Nadal comfortably polled ahead of his closest competitors, legendary swimmer Michael Phelps and track and field legend Usain Bolt, in the semifinal and final respectively.

Rafael Nadal beat Usain Bolt in the final round of the poll

The draw involved some of the biggest names in sport and some of the biggest streaks of dominance in history. Roger Federer's Wimbledon run and Serena Williams' 2013-16 all-court dominance were tennis' other entries alongside Rafa's French Open haul.

The other spots in the bracket were filled in by the Olympic madness of Phelps and Bolt, the All Blacks' Rugby World Cup dominance, Tiger Woods' famous 'Tiger Slam' in golf, Simone Biles' dominance since 2013 at the Gymnastics World Championships, Australia Women's dominance in the T20 Cricket World Cup, Pep Guardiola's all-conquering Barcelona side of 2009-12, the Indian cricket team's Test dominance on home soil under captain Virat Kohli, Kobe Bryant's five NBA rings with the Lakers, Floyd Mayweather's undefeated career streak, Michael Schumacher's dominance in Ferrari, the Australian cricket team's dominance in the 2000s decade and Zinedine Zidane's Champions league hat-trick with Real Madrid.

While Federer fell to Usain Bolt after winning his opening round poll against Simone Biles, Serena Williams failed to cross her opening round hurdle against the 'Undefeated' Floyd Mayweather.

Rafael Nadal does the heavy lifting for tennis

However, Rafael Nadal did what Serena couldn't, as the Spaniard gave Floyd Mayweather the first beating of the boxing legend's career - albeit only in polling. Rafael Nadal might want to lay low for a while if Mayweather, now retired, learns about this.

Along with Rafael Nadal, the bracket also involved Roger Federer and Serena Williams

Virat Kohli's Team India was the surprise package in the poll as they defeated Guardiola's Barcelona and the All Blacks before coming marginally short to Usain Bolt in the semis. Team India's run was quite shocking given both Guardiola's Barcelona and the New Zealand rugby team's achievements are considered by experts to be superior than an unbeaten run on home soil. At the same time though, the result is understandable given India's cricket-centric reader base.

It was Rafael Nadal's 12 French Opens against Michael Phelps' record 23 Olympic Gold medals in the semifinal. Nadal surprisingly won this clash by a large margin, polling 71% of the 2,243 total votes to reach the final.

Usain Bolt meanwhile beat Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Kohli's Team India on his way to the final, to face Rafael Nadal.

The Spaniard once again beat an Olympic legend in what was another one-sided affair. Nadal crushed Usain Bolt by polling an astonishing 73% of the 3,008 total votes.

Beating Floyd Mayweather, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt in a poll would be the tennis equivalent of beating the top 3 seeds in consecutive rounds at a Slam. But this wouldn't be the first time Nadal has pulled off the impossible.

Rafael Nadal won the poll beating Floyd Mayweather, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt

That said, it is pertinent to note that a few incredibly dominant feats like Novak Djokovic's 'Nole Slam' in 2015-16, Lewis Hamilton's six World Championships in Formula 1, Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez's MotoGP World dominance in the 2000s and the 2010s repectively, United States Women's unassailable FIFA World Cup dominance were overlooked in this polling compeition.