Sooner or later, it had to happen. Serena Williams, arguably the greatest tennis player in history, winner of 23 Grand Slam titles, will receive the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports this October at the Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo. Retired from the courts in 2022, now dedicated to her businesses and raising her daughters Olympia and Adira, the American will be honored for her many achievements, including her 319 weeks as the number one in the WTA ranking and her four Olympic gold medals.
Her name will be added to the list of recipients of the award after Carolina Marín, chosen last year, and four other tennis players, three women, Martina Navratilova (1994), Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (1998), and Steffi Graf (1999), and one man, Rafa Nadal (2008). She will be the fifth recipient from the United States after Carl Lewis (1996), Lance Armstrong (2000, still holds the award), the New York Marathon (2014), and Lindsey Vonn (2019).
The jury of the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports 2025, chaired by another awardee, the Paralympic swimmer Teresa Perales, deliberated this Tuesday and Wednesday after receiving 30 nominations from 13 nationalities, highlighting "applicants with great stories, as well as significant achievements in their sports careers."
Their decision is a commitment to maintaining a balance between the international exposure of the award in its early days and the recognition of national sports, a trend seen in recent times. The selections of soccer and basketball - with Iker Casillas, Xavi Hernández, and the Gasol brothers as repeat recipients - José María Olazábal, Javier Gómez Noya, Carlos Sainz, Perales, Marín, had transformed the nature of the distinction, which with Eliud Kipchoge two years ago and now with Williams, maintains its roots.