"I don't know of Sachin Tendulkar," said Russian tennis ace Maria Sharapova at the 2014 Wimbledon when the media asked her if she had heard of the Indian cricket star. It was not at all surprising. The willow game is played in a handful countries and Tendulkar has done or achieved nothing extraordinary beyond cricket to be a household name in every nook and cranny of the world. But it is unlikely that Sharapova would have answered in the negative if she had been asked about Muhammad Ali.