Serena Williams likes to make one thing clear: She is never satisfied, no matter how many matches and tournaments she wins.
Driven as ever, Williams won plenty this year. She went 78-4 with 11 titles, including at the French Open and U.S. Open, raising her Grand Slam championship total to 17. She compiled a 34-match winning streak. She earned more than $12 million in prize money, a record for women’s tennis. In February, she became the oldest No. 1 in WTA rankings history and never left that perch.
Thanks to all of that, Williams was honored Wednesday as The Associated Press’ 2013 Female Athlete of the Year. It’s the third AP award for Williams, following 2002 and 2009. Only two women have been chosen more often as AP Athlete of the Year since the annual awards were first handed out in 1931.
“Whenever I lose, I get more determined, and it gives me something more to work toward,” Williams told the AP in an interview shortly before the start of the U.S. Open. “I don’t get complacent, and I realize I need to work harder and I need to do better and I want to do better - or I wouldn’t keep playing this game.”
The vote by news organizations was about as lopsided as many of Williams’ matches this season. She received 55 of 96 votes, while Brittney Griner, a two-time AP Player of the Year in college basketball and the No. 1 pick in April’s WNBA draft, finished second with 14. Swimmer Missy Franklin was next with 10.
The Male Athlete of the Year recipient will be announced today.
Williams, who grew up in Compton, Calif., and turned 32 in September, produced the finest women’s tennis season in years. According to the WTA:
Her .951 winning percentage was the best since Steffi Graf’s .977 in 1989;
Her 11 titles were the most since Martina Hingis’ 12 in 1997;
Her winning streak was the longest since her sister, Venus, had a 35-match run in 2000.
“She just continues to bean inspiration to American tennis,” said Gordon Smith, the executive director of the U.S. Tennis Association, which runs the U.S. Open. “Her year this year? Unforgettable.”
By adding a fifth career U.S. Open championship, and a second French Open title, Williams also moved within one Grand Slam trophy of the 18 apiece won by Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. The record is 24 by Margaret Court.
Pretty heady company.
Evert is one of the only two women with more AP awards than Williams. Evert won four from 1974-80, while Babe Didrikson collected a record six - one for track in 1932, and five for golf from 1945-54.
“Serena already has provided significant contributions to taking our sport to the next level. … She is chasing records and no doubt will break many records before she’s finished,” WTA Chairman Stacey Allaster said. “That obviously just brings a lot more attention to our sport.”
Two particular moments in 2013 stuck out to Allaster.
One came at Qatar in February, when Williams cried after assuring herself of returning to No. 1 for the first time since 2010, the year the American needed two operations on her right foot and got blood clots in her lungs.
The second moment came during Wimbledon, when Williams joined other women who have been ranked No. 1 at a celebration of the WTA’s 40th anniversary.
At a glance
AP Female of the Year Award winners:
2013 Serena Williams, tennis
2012 Gabby Douglas, gymnastics
2011 Abby Wambach, soccer
2010 Lindsey Vonn, skiing
2009 Serena Williams, tennis
2008 Candace Parker, basketball
2007 Lorena Ochoa, golf
2006 Lorena Ochoa, golf-x
2005 Annika Sorenstam, golf
2004 Annika Sorenstam, golf
2003 Annika Sorenstam, golf
2002 Serena Williams, tennis
2001 Jennifer Capriati, tennis
2000 Marion Jones, track
1999 U.S. Soccer Team
1998 Se Ri Pak, golf
1997 Martina Hingis, tennis
1996 Amy Van Dyken, swimming
1995 Rebecca Lobo, basketball
1994 Bonnie Blair, speedskating
1993 Sheryl Swoopes, basketball
1992 Monica Seles, tennis
1991 Monica Seles, tennis
1990 Beth Daniel, golf
1989 Steffi Graf, tennis
1988 Florence Griffith Joyner, track and field
1987 Jackie Joyner-Kersee, track and field
1986 Martina Navratilova, tennis
1985 Nancy Lopez, golf
1984 Mary Lou Retton, gymnastics
1983 Martina Navratilova, tennis
1982 Mary Decker Tabb, track
1981 Tracy Austin, tennis-x
1980 Chris Evert Lloyd, tennis
1979 Tracy Austin, tennis
1978 Nancy Lopez, golf
1977 Chris Evert, tennis
1976 Nadia Comaneci, gymnastics
1975 Chris Evert, tennis
1974 Chris Evert, tennis
1973 Billie Jean King, tennis
1972 Olga Korbut, gymnastics
1971 Evonne Goolagong, tennis
1970 Chi Cheng, track
1969 Debbie Meyer, swimming
1968 Peggy Fleming, figure skating
1967 Billie Jean King, tennis
1966 Kathy Whitworth, golf
1965 Kathy Whitworth, golf
1964 Mickey Wright, golf
1963 Mickey Wright, golf
1962 Dawn Fraser, swimming
1961 Wilma Rudolph, track
1960 Wilma Rudolph, track
1959 Maria Bueno, tennis
1958 Althea Gibson, tennis
1957 Althea Gibson, tennis
1956 Pat McCormick, diving
1955 Patty Berg, golf
1954 Babe Didrikson Zaharias, golf
1953 Maureen Connolly, tennis
1952 Maureen Connolly, tennis
1951 Maureen Connolly, tennis
1950 Babe Didrikson Zaharias, golf
1949 Marlene Bauer, golf
1948 Fanny Blankers-Koen, track
1947 Babe Didrikson Zaharias, golf
1946 Babe Didrikson Zaharias, golf
1945 Babe Didrikson Zaharias, golf-x
1944 Ann Curtis, swimming
1943 Patty Berg, golf
1942 Gloria Callen, swimming
1941 Betty Hicks Newell, golf
1940 Alice Marble, tennis
1939 Alice Marble, tennis
1938 Patty Berg, golf
1937 Katherine Rawls, swimming
1936 Helen Stephens, track-x
1935 Helen Wills Moody, tennis
1934 Virginia Van Wie, golf
1933 Helen Jacobs, tennis
1932 Babe Didrikson, track
1931 Helene Madison, swimming x-both male and female winner were from the same sport
Sports, Pages 23 on 12/26/2013