Serena Williams Felicitated with AP Female Athlete of the Year title

Published 12/27/2018, 6:56 AM EST

Serena Williams was 8-weeks pregnant when she won her 2017 Australian Open by overcoming her sister Venus in the finals. Also, he surpassed the Grand Slam count of Steffi Graff during her victory in Melbourne. Post that achievement, she was under the maternity hiatus and gave birth a baby girl. Just a few months after delivering a child which was accompanied by an emergency Caesarean section, Williams played an exhibition match in the Middle-East.

Williams returned to professional tennis before the beginning of the clay-court season. She dwelled decently on the WTA circuit and managed to win few matches. At the SW19 major, she extended her match-winning streak to 20 at Wimbledon after breezing into the finals. However, she lost to the German, Angelique Kerber at the championship match. Right after that, the new mother, Williams was looking forward to being part of the club, mothers with Grand Slam titles. However, the 21-year-old Osaka halted Serena from achieving that honour.

The 23-time American Grand Slam champion is now awarded the Associated Press’ Female Athlete of the Year. “Her rapid return to tennis after a health scare following childbirth was a victory in itself, and for that, Williams has been voted The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for the fifth time,” said AP Sports Writer Brian Mahoney.

She has been honoured with this title for the fifth time in her career. Previously, she was given this title in the years 2002, 2009, 2013 and 2015. She fetched the title previously all because of her flourishing achievements on the WTA circuit in the following years. This year she did not pick up any major title or rather she did not win any WTA title, but still, she was felicitated as the female athlete of the year. Williams was given that honour for her perseverance and determination which she displays and the devotion which she shows towards her sport, tennis. Serena was awarded 93 points in balloting by American editors and news directors. She surpassed the gymnast Simone Biles (who was in second with 68), Notre Dame basketball player Arike Ogunbowale, Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim and swimmer Katie Ledecky.

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.