Serena Williams named Sportsperson of Year: Did SI make the right choice?

It’s official: Professional tennis player and literal goddess Serena Williams has been named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated.

I know this is a shocking hot take from me, and one that will make people furious. This is not just an accomplishment for me, but for my whole team. “I am beyond honored”, she said, according to Sports Illustrated. It won the Triple Crown this year, the first time a horse has accomplished that since Affirmed did it in 1978. The horsey crowd was outraged.

Editor of Sports Illustrated Group Paul Fichtenbaum added, “She was the most deserving person for the award”.

Women’s tennis champion Serena Williams has come under fire for reportedly jumping into a taxi to complete the final leg of her own 5km charity race.

The magazine also cited Williams as a force off the court, using her broad platform to advocate for racial justice, gender equality and equal access to education around the world. She failed to put the cherry on top of her year by winning the 2015 U.S. Open for a calendar-year Grand Slam, but the magazine’s cover story focused on her impressive season leading up to that point. Williams was the favorite to win and was contending to become the first player to sweep all four majors in the same year since Steffi Graf in 1988.

Runner Mary Decker was the last female to win this award without having a male co-winner.

Are fans right in protesting (see tweets below) that a horse should have won the prestigious award?

Williams didn’t get almost as much of the vote as American Pharoah, but it looks like popularity amongst Sports Illustrated readers was not the only thing taken into consideration in awarding the title.

For the first time since 1983, an individual woman has been named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year. Having dominated 2015 even while battling an injury, Serena proved that she is in fact, the ultimate sports queen!