Serena Williams wins WTA Player of the Year

Serena Williams wins her second straight WTA Player of the Year award after another dominant season. (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)
No surprise here: Serena Williams was voted WTA Player of the Year for the second year in a row and fifth time in her career.
Just like last year, when she won two Grand Slam tournaments, a gold medal at the London Olympics and seven titles overall, the 32-year-old Williams left no doubt about her place as the game's best player. But there is one difference between this year and last: After compiling one of the all-time best seasons in 2013, she finished the year at No. 1. She reclaimed the top spot in February to become the oldest WTA No. 1 and never looked back.
Williams' 11 titles (including the French Open and U.S. Open) are the most since Martina Hingis won 12 in 1997, and her 78 victories (against four losses) are the most since Kim Clijsters won 90 a decade ago.
On top of that, she earned $12.4 million, shattering Victoria Azarenka's WTA record of $7.9 million last season. Only three other players have cracked $10 million in prize money: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.