Tennis star Serena Williams has been named the Associated Press’ Female Athlete of the Decade by AP sports editors and beat writers.
Serena is the most successful female tennis player ever, having won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, more than anyone else in the sport’s professional era.
According to AP, more than half came between 2010-2019: four at Wimbledon, three apiece at the U.S. Open and Australian Open, two at the French Open. That includes a run of four in a row from the U.S. Open in 2014 through Wimbledon in 2015, and her second self-styled “Serena Slam.”
Apart from that, Williams was the runner-up seven times at major tournaments over the past decade, including four of the seven she’s entered since returning to the tour after having a baby in 2017.
Williams amongst her many grand slam titles has reached at least one Slam final every year, a streak that dates back to 2007; won gold medals in singles and doubles at the 2012 Olympics with her sister, Venus; became the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam singles trophy in the professional era; became the oldest No.1 in WTA history and equaling Steffi Graf’s record for most consecutive weeks atop the rankings and leading the tour with 37 singles titles, 11 more than anyone else in the decade.
In all, she was in the final of 19 of the 33 majors she entered during the decade.
Recall she was named the 5th most powerful black woman and 81 most powerful woman in the world in Forbes’ 2019 edition of its World’s Most Powerful Women.
Serena is also the highest paid Sports Woman for four years running, according to Forbes.
