Watch: The moments that made Serena Williams the 'Sportsperson of the Year'
There were a lot of titles but it was the way she won it that made the difference.
It should have been an obvious choice. Serena Williams has had the sort of year few can only dream about. Unfortunately as we know, Twitter can be a weird place and when magazine Sports Illustrated announced that their 2015 ‘Sportsperson of the Year’ was Serena Williams, it generated an ugly debate on social media with many angry horse racing fans arguing that American Pharaoh, a racehorse that had won the Triple Crown, deserved the award over Williams.
While the jury is still out on whether a horse technically qualifies as a person, Williams’ spectacular year can be put down to a few numbers – three major titles, a 53-3 win-loss record and 21 Grand Slams, just one short of legend Steffi Graf’s record.
But those numbers also don’t reveal how difficult it was at times – the Australian Open was won amidst sickness, throughout the French Open, she suffered illness and flu. She breezed through the Wimbledon to complete the Serena Slam and looked set to clinch the Calendar Slam before bowing out in a shock upset to the unseeded Roberta Vinci at Flushing Meadows.
Her greatest moment this year was undoubtedly the 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Garbine Muguruza at the Wimbledon in July (seen in the above video) through which she completed the Serena Slam but there were some other notable moments too:
The Return to Indian Wells
This might not have been a Grand Slam, but the significance of this moment was immense. Fourteen years ago at the final of the same tournament, Williams was the victim of relentless racial abuse and booing from the crowd during the final with Kim Cljisters. Williams and the family had vowed never to return and she kept her word.
But in 2015, Williams finally decided to return to California with, in her words, “a true understanding of the meaning of forgiveness”. She admitted to tension before her return – “what if they boo again?” - but her fears were unfounded. As Williams stepped onto court to make her long-awaited return, the stadium burst into cheers. The ghost of 2001 had been exorcised and a visibly emotional Williams admitted that that was probably her greatest moment.
Fighting off sickness to win at Roland Garros
Williams’ victory over Timea Bacsinszky in the semi-final was a triumph over her own body as much as her opponent. Suffering from a flu she had picked up in the third round, Williams coughed, groaned on the hottest day of the tournament as she went a set and 3-2 down. The end seemed nigh but Williams was not about to give up and in a comeback of resilient proportions, she won ten games on the row to finish the game as the winner. The final score-line read 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 and Williams to go to win the title.
