Black Girl Magic: Serena Williams Honored as AP ‘Female Athlete of the Year’ for the 4th Time

Serena Williams has swung her way to the top with another honor from The Associated Press. The AP named the tennis phenomenon "Female Athlete of the Year" which comes as a fitting honor since Serena brought non-stop Black Girl Magic to the courts in 2015. This will make the fourth time Serena earned this title, which she can add to her running list of honors/recognitions.

In a landslide win, Serena received the honor of AP "Female Athlete of the Year" with 50 votes, according to AP. She can add the 2015 title to her running list of AP honors from 2002, 2009 and 2013. In this year's tally, Carli Lloyd was the runner up with only 14 first place votes. In third place, Ronda Rousey rounded up the votes, only one ranking ahead of her greatest opponent, Holly Holm.

Serena Williams was the obvious pick for the AP for the fourth time. "Williams' will was on display time and again, along with her best-in-the-game serve and other skills, fashioning comeback after comeback to nearly become the first tennis player in more than a quarter-century to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in a season."

Williams had a monumental year by winning the Australian Open, the French Open and the Wimbledon tournament. Serena was well on her way to making history with a calendar year Grand Slam, until her devastating loss to Roberta Vinci at the U.S. Open semifinals. She may have fallen short of the calendar Grand Slam victory, but she 21 Grand Slam single wins. In addition, Serena had a 53-3 season and was ranked #1 every week in the Women's Tennis Association.

Serena expressed her appreciation for the AP honor shortly after she the votes were announced.

 Female athlete of the year from AP. Thank you. It's been an incredible year. I look forward to making more memorable memories next year. I love you all

A photo posted by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Dec 25, 2015 at 2:04pm PST

As previously reported by Mstars, Serena was also announced as Sports Illustrated "Sportsperson of the Year." This honor made her the first Black woman to grace the cover of SI in a solo shot on the magazine's annual cover.

She is laser focused on the year ahead, so we can expect more phenomenal performances from the 34-year old tennis champion in 2016. She spoke to AP about the honor and said, "If I could have this next year, I would be really excited."

Now you see why ESPN called her the "definition of #BlackGirlMagic" earlier this year!