Serena Williams tied the tennis record of Chris Evert after this week receiving the 2015 Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for the fourth time during her career.
The Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., native collected her fourth honor after winning in 2002, 2009 and 2013. The only woman to collect more is Babe Didrikson, the multi-sport athlete who was honored six times in 1932 and 1945-54.
“It’s not even winning the Grand Slam titles as much as the way she got herself out of the deep holes that she dug, just repeatedly,” Evert told the AP about Williams. “It’s not like she had two or three narrow escapes. It really was the year of the comeback. It was just unbelievable.”
Williams narrowly missed becoming the first player in a quarter century to win all four majors, winning the Australian, French and Wimbledon before falling in the US Open semifinals.
The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year is determined by a vote by U.S. editors and news directors. Williams’ 50 first-place votes and 352 points was ahead of U.S. soccer player Carli Lloyd, who had 14 first-place votes and 243 points.
Compiling a 53-3 win-loss record with five titles in 2015, Williams lifted her Grand Slam titles total to 21, and held the No. 1 ranking throughout the year.
