Serena Named SI’s Sportsperson of the Year

Williams won 53 of her 56 matches in 2015, including three Grand Slam events, besides holding onto the No 1 ranking all through the year. This is not just an accomplishment for me, but for my whole team. Williams beat contenders like golfer Jordan Spieth and Triple Crown victor American Pharoah for the award. The horsey crowd was outraged.

In 2015 Williams hit a rare spot where excotic became not only more attractive but it became the norm, and through this year Serena proved that she is more than that. This was also the year she returned to Indian Wells, a tournament that stigmatized Williams’ race back in 2001. They are mad because a horse didn’t win Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsperson of the Year” award.

As the first female athlete to be honored with the title alone since track star Mary Decker in 1983, this honor emboldens Williams to forge ahead toward more impressive endeavors. She’s now ranked one of the best tennis players in the world, she’s the second-highest paid woman athlete on the planet and she rode into the U.S. Open this summer on a high after a series of major wins.

“She was the most deserving person of the award”, said Paul Fichtenbaum, editor of Sports Illustrated.

Serena had an incredible year and is a worthy choice.

In September, Williams lost her bid for a calendar Grand Slam, losing in the semi-finals of the U.S. Open. The victor of the magazine’s reader poll, however, was a racehorse: American Pharoah.

It was a decisive decision for the Sports Illustrated staff to choose her, as reported by the publication itself.

Serena has accomplished so much from slams to gold medals, and now she has yet another well-deserved accomplishment to take with her when she leaves the game.

But still, a lot of people really wanted American Pharoah to win the Sportsperson of the Year award. That year she was greeted with boos and her family says she even endured racial slurs.