Serena Williams named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated

She was by far the most succesfull and dominant player in women’s tennis this year. “I am disappointed to announce Triple Crown and Grand Slam Champion American Pharoah has not been named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year Award for 2015”.

The award, now called Sportsperson of the Year, is presented to the person, or the horse in the case of Zayat Stables’ American Pharoah, who “embodied the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement”. Three. That is so hard to do, and while in the past she has absolutely dominated people things came a little tougher for Serena this year. Serena wasn’t even in the top 10. “The way she won her events; the fact that she’s done this for so many years at such a high level”, declared SI editor Paul Fichtenbaum.

In all, the 34-year-old American went 53-3 during 2015 with five titles, including at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon.

On Monday morning, Williams posted the photo of her Sports Illustrated cover on Instagram.

Williams, who is a human, narrowly missed winning the grand slam but still had a tremendous year in tennis.

Past recipients of the award include Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali and Billie Jean King, while the last individual female athlete chosen was track star Mary Decker in 1983. This was also the year she returned to Indian Wells, a tournament that stigmatized Williams’ race back in 2001. “This is not just an accomplishment for me, but for my whole team, I am beyond honoured”. Williams’s 21 career Grand Slam singles titles are just one short of Steffi Graf’s Open-era record. “Far past the time that anyone expected it, she demonstrated a capacity for change”€”innovation if you will. She’s groping for answers and realizing she has much to learn.

I keep emphasizing that because there is a bit of an uproar over Sports Illustrated’s decision to give the honor to Serena. Sports Illustrated readers really, really believe in this horse. To be fair, American Pharoah is not just any horse.