After an already amazing year, Serena just closed out 2015 with a bang. Oh, and she beat a horse (yes, a horse) to claim the title.
Serena Williams owned 2015, there’s just no disputing it. This year alone she’s won three major tennis titles, held the world number one spot for the third year in a row, achieved her 700th career victory, posed nude in the annual Pirelli calendar, wrote about equality for October’s Wired, which she also guest-edited, and launched a clothing line for HSN. When does she sleep?!
Now, she’s been named Sport Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year for 2015, and all I want to do is clap for this woman until my arms fall off.
Picture: Tumblr
Picture: Giphy
But not everyone is as happy as we are about the amounts of slayage Serena has been displaying.
Even though the title is clearly called SportsPERSON of the Year, some horse racing fans were upset that American Pharoah, a Triple Crown winning race horse, didn’t get this prestigious honour. The word “snubbed” was actually used to describe their disappointment, according to Buzzfeed. Because winning Sports Mammal of the Year wasn’t enough, mos.
Picture: Sports Illustrated
Because a woman (and a woman of colour at that) who had one of the best years in sports is not more deserving of this honour than a horse? But shame, Sports Illustrated doesn’t recognise the pain of horse racing fans.
Picture: Tumblr
Serena, who told Sports Illustrated that she wants to be known as “the greatest ever”, is surely not crying herself to sleep at night. Because, let’s face it, she has won at life.