For the fourth time in her great tennis career, Serena Williams has been named the WTA Player of the Year. She previously won the award in 2002, 2008, and 2009. Only Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova have won more often.
This time around was quite a feat, since Serena had to come back after rehabilitation of a foot injury which kept her off the tennis court for most of the 2011 season. She missed three straight Grand Slam tournaments, the US Open at the end of 2010, and the Australian Open and French Open going into the 2011 season. She was able to play again in the 2011 Wimbledon, and completed her comeback by winning both Wimbledon and the US Open this past year.
Add to her 2012 Grand Slam accomplishments a total of 7 WTA singles titles and 2 WTA doubles titles, plus a Gold Medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and you have the WTA Player of the Year.
Serena ends the season ranked 3rd in the world, due in part to playing fewer tournaments than anyone in the Top 20. At the rate she is going, gaining the number one spot again certainly doesn’t seem out of the question.
