How a glamorous 24-year-old soccer star you’ve never heard of beat tennis legend Roger Federer to second place in sports popularity contest
Retired tennis legend Roger Federer is not used to finishing second but suffered a flattering loss on social media with a little-known footballer usurping him at the top.
Along with his 20 Grand Slam singles titles, one career Grand Slam (winning all four Grand Slams at least once) and 103 ATP titles, including 20 majors, Federer was also the Swiss king of Instagram.
However, he has now handed over that title with Aston Villa starlet Alisha Lehmann now taking up the mantle as Switzerland’s most followed star on the platform.
Not cutting a striking figure at the Christian Dior Haute Couture Spring Summer 2023 show as part of Paris Fashion Week could help Federer stay on top on social media
Lehmann plays for Aston Villa and the Swiss national team and has become the most popular Swiss personality on Instagram, surpassing the grand slam icon
The Aston Villa star has also been posting a series of glamorous and dazzling photos on her social media
The great Federer has 11.2 million fans on the platform while Lehmann has now surpassed him with 11.4 million fans.
While her profile features plenty of images of Lehmann playing her game in England’s FA Women’s National League, she has something Federer will never match: a scrappy team.
She has posted photos of herself in bikinis in glamorous locations around the world such as Miami and Rio de Janeiro.
The footballer recently became single following her split from fellow Aston Villa star Douglas Louise, and her 2023 diary has probably helped boost her online profile too.
Lehmann has made 32 appearances for Aston Villa and has also played eight games for Everton and 42 matches for West Ham United.
Pictures like this one, taken in Miami Beach, have won Lehmann plenty of praise, with one follower commenting: “I’ve been looking for the meaning of perfection and I found this.”
Lehmann also once dated former Chelsea Women’s star Ramona Bachmann.
Fellow Swiss tennis stars Stan Wawrinka (1.2 million followers), rising tennis star Belinda Bencic (427,000 followers) and retired Martina Hingis (313,000 followers) are well behind Federer and Lehmann.
In other sports, Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka (2.9 million followers), popular alpine ski star Marko Odermatt (237k followers), track and field sprinter Mujinga Kambundji (133k followers) were also quite low on the list .
And while Lehmann has dethroned Federer on the Swiss stage, she has work to do to catch the Instagram world leaders.
Federer has 20 Grand Slams and retired from international tennis with a classy letter to his supporters on Instagram (pictured below)
Former Portugal, Manchester United and Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo – who now plays for Saudi Professional League side Al Nassr – tops all athletes with more than 520 million followers.
It’s one area where he outshines arch-rival Lionel Messi, who comes in second with 406 million – although he does have one World Cup win to his name.
Although technically no longer an athlete, former WWE star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is third with 354 million followers, with Indian cricket hero Virat Kohli (228 million) and Brazilian soccer star Neymar Jr (197 million) to complete the top five.