Serena Williams named AP female athlete of the year
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Even though Serena Williams’ 2009 season may be best remembered for her expensive on-court tirade at the U.S. Open, her victories at the Australian Open and Wimbledon proved she’s once again at the top of her game.
And today the Associated Press named her its female athlete of the year. Williams won the honor by a wide margin, receiving 66 of the 158 votes cast by editors of newspapers across the country.
Williams, 28, reemerged as the sport’s elite player after struggling to find consistency in her game. Her victory at the 2008 U.S. Open marked her official return to dominance.
Despite capturing her 11th grand slam singles title this year, Williams’ verbal abuse of a line judge over a foot-fault call at the U.S. Open will continue to be one of the legacies of an otherwise noteworthy season. Still, the on-court episode wasn’t enough to hurt her reputation among AP voters.
‘People realize that I’m a great player, and one moment doesn’t define a person’s career,’ Williams told the AP. ‘And I was right, for the most part: It wasn’t right the way I reacted -- I never said it was -- but I was right about the call.’
Williams, who was the AP female athlete of the year in 2002, says she is proud of what she’s accomplished. She even says her infamous outburst ‘got a lot more people excited about tennis.’
‘In 2002, I just was really dominant, and I think in 2009, I brought that back. I kind of became that player again.’
Zenyatta, who became the first female horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, finished second in the voting.
-- Austin Knoblauch
