Serena Williams is chosen as Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsperson of the Year

Thrilled about this.

Serena Williams, 34, is Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year!

I had thought coming two matches short of winning the calendar year grand slam would doom her chances but thankfully not and she joins Billie Jean King (1972) and Chris Evert (1976) as the only female tennis players to have received the title.

In 2015, Serena won three major titles, went 53–3 and provided at least one new measure of her tyrannical three-year reign at No. 1. For six weeks this summer—and for the first time in the 40-year history of the WTA rankings—Williams amassed twice as many ranking points as the world No. 2; at one point that gap grew larger than the one between No. 2 and No. 1,000. Williams’s 21 career Grand Slam singles titles are just one short of Steffi Graf’s Open-era record.