Serena Williams dominates her competition even away from the court. The best female tennis player on the planet was named the AP’s female athlete of the year for the fourth time in her career, winning in a landslide!
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Williams collected 50 first-place votes and 352 points. Carli Lloyd, whose hat trick in the final lifted the U.S. women’s soccer team to the World Cup title, was the runner-up, with 14 first-place votes and 243 points. UFC star Ronda Rousey finished third, one spot ahead of the woman she stunningly lost to last month, Holly Holm. UConn basketball player Breanna Stewart was fifth.
The AP Male Athlete of the Year will be announced Saturday.
Serena had previously won the award in 2002, 2009 and 2013. This year’s award was easy, considering she came so close to pulling off the calendar year “Grand Slam”. She won 3 of the 4 majors and yesterday she spoke more candidly about wanting to make it happen.
“I wanted it. But … winning one [major title] is not easy. And then, [when] you have a ‘bounty’ on your head, it’s even harder,” she said with a laugh. “If you know anything about me, I hate to lose. I’ve always said I hate losing more than I like winning, so that drives me to be the best that I can be.”
Williams won the Australian Open on hard courts in January, the French Open on red clay in June and Wimbledon on grass in July before losing in the US Open semifinals in September in one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history.
In all, Williams went 53-3 with a WTA tour-leading five titles and was ranked No. 1 every week. She raised her Grand Slam singles trophy count to 21; only two women — Margaret Court and Steffi Graf — have won more.
