When you think about it Williams did have an incredible sports year, she was two matches away from a grand slam.
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It’s official: Professional tennis player and literal goddess Serena Williams has been named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated. She lost the opportunity to win the calendar Grand Slam when Roberta Vinci defeated Williams in the U.S. Open semifinals. The annual award honors the athlete, team coach, or individual who, by virtue of performance and character on and off the field, transcended the year in sports.
Williams was the first woman to be recognised since Mary Decker in 1983, when the magazine took the opportunity to rename its award from Sportsman of the Year to Sportsperson of the Year. Sports Illustrated readers really, really believe in this horse.
There’s no question that it was a stellar year for legendary tennis phenom Serena Williams. The coveted distinction makes her SI’s 10th female recipient of the award, and the first solo female athlete to win it in over 30 years!
Few could argue that the woman who more-or-less dominated the sporting industry in 2015 was tennis superstar, Serena Williams. Williams’s 21 career Grand Slam singles titles are just one short of Steffi Graf’s Open-era record. So is that what this is all about – selling magazines or did SI simply vote for her because she’d never won it before and they felt she was deserving after all these years?
Now, she’s been named Sport Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year for 2015, and all I want to do is clap for this woman until my arms fall off. “This is not just an accomplishment for me, but for my whole team, I am beyond honoured”.
Still, Williams came out on top-just like she plans to do in the upcoming new year. “I am beyond honored”, she said, according to Sports Illustrated.
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Are fans right in protesting (see tweets below) that a horse should have won the prestigious award?
