Serena Williams Named Sports Illustrated '2015 Sportsperson of the Year' Even After Disastrous 2015 US Open Loss
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It has been an explosive year for tennis athlete Serena Williams, who TIME reports have been named Sports Illustrated 2015 Sportsperson of the Year, gracing the cover of the magazine.
NPR reports that Sports Illustrated gives the award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement". Moreover, the magazine cited that "Williams, 34, won three major titles, went 53–3 and provided, at least, one new measure of her tyrannical three-year reign at No. 1. For six weeks this summer—and for the first time in the 40-year history of the WTA rankings—Williams amassed twice as many ranking points as the world No. 2; at one point that gap grew larger than the one between No. 2 and No. 1,000. Williams's 21 career Grand Slam singles titles are just one short of Steffi Graf's Open-era record. Such numbers are reason enough for Sports Illustrated to name Serena Williams its 2015 Sportsperson of the Year."
The 34-year-old powerhouse athlete won 53 of her 56 matches this year, almost garnering the Grand Slam but failing to win the U.S. Open last September.
"I didn’t want to necessarily put a fist through a wall—I felt more like, Ah, man, I was so close!" Williams admitted. "I’ll always think about what I could have done better. Could I have come up on the net? Been more consistent? It’s not anger. It’s analyzing: What can I do next time?"
Aside from making history in the court, POPSugar reports that Williams also made waves outside of tennis, as she was featured in te 2016 Pirelli calendar, and even sat as guest editor at Wired. Constantly criticized for her opinions on racism and sexism, Williams isn't afraid to tell it like it is. That's why Sports Illustrated recognizes her bravery.
MTV reports that according to the magazine, "We are honoring Serena Williams too for reasons that hang in the grayer, less comfortable ether, where issues such as race and femininity collide with the games."
"She was a difference-maker in other areas, speaking out against body-shamers in both words and actions, posing for the Annie Leibovitz–shot Pirelli calendar in only a bikini bottom," the magazine explained. "The cover shot of this issue? Her idea, intended, like the Pirelli shots, to express her own ideal of femininity, strength, power."
To read her cover story, head over to si.com.
