Tennis Star Serena Williams Set To Receive Prestigious NAACP Award

Tennis: US Open

23-time Grand Slam Champion and the greatest female tennis player of all time, Serena Williams is set to receive a prestigious award from the NAACP on Saturday, February 25, 2023.

Williams will receive the Jackie Robinson Sports Award.

This award has previously been given to sports icons including Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Magic Johnson, and Wilma Rudolph.

Derrick Johnson, president, and CEO of the NAACP explained why Serena is the 2023 recipient.

He said:

“From her record-breaking wins on the tennis court to her business acumen to her philanthropic endeavors, she has set the bar for athletes everywhere.”

Williams’s Successes Off-The-Court Are Impressive

Everyone knows how dominant Serena was on the tennis court, but many do not realize she is equally, if not more, successful off the court.

She was an executive producer of King Richard, a movie about her father Richard Williams.

Williams has a wide portfolio of business investments including ownership stakes in the Miami Dolphins and Angel City (women’s soccer).

In addition, she launched her own venture capital firm and created her own fashion brand.

Williams successfully leveraged her career from an athlete to a businesswoman.

She had career earnings of $94.8 million and has a current net worth of $250 million.

She Approaches Her Life Geniunely And Uniquely

Williams, 41, is her own person and does things her way, characteristics that have been true since emerging as a teenage sensation on the WTA tennis circuit in the late 1990s.

She won her last Grand Slam tournament, the 2017 Australian Open over sister Venus Williams, in the early stages of her pregnancy with daughter Olympia who is now 5.

Williams also announced her retirement from tennis in a unique way.

Not liking the word retirement, she described the process as “evolving” in the September issue of Vogue.

She posed for the cover with Olympia with the caption reading “Serena’s Farewell: ‘I’m Terrible At Goodbyes”

Her last appearance was at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Many question, including her father Richard, if she is truly done playing tennis believing she can still compete, but it appears that she is.

Watch Serena accept her award during the live broadcast of the 54th NAACP Image Awards hosted by Queen Latifah on BET on February 25, 2023, at 8:00 PM.

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