Serena Williams, tennis legend and 23-time Grand Slam winner between 1999 and 2017 (she retired in 2022) will be awarded with the Princess of Asturias Awards, an annual prize that the crown of Spain awards to individuals, organizations or entities that excell categories like humanities, sciences, arts and, in the case of Williams, sports, usually focusing not just on sporting merits, but also on their humanitarian work or their abbility to inspire others.
The Princess of Asturias Foundation considers her “one of the greatest tennis players in the history of the sport with an indisputable record of accomplishments […] Serena Williams has always been a staunch advocate for gender equality and equal opportunities between men and women in sports as well as in society in general.”
Serena Williams will receive the award next October, in Oviedo.
What is the Princess of Asturias award?
The award often goes to Spanish individuals, but not always (Super Mario creater Shigeru Miyamoto won the prize for Communication and Humanities in 2012).
Last year, the Sports award was awarded to standout badminton player Carolina Marín, but the previous year it went to Kenyan long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge. Other international winners include the Olympic Refuge Foundation and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team in 2022, American skier Lindsey Vonn in 2019, New Zealand national rugby union team in 2017 or even the organizers of the New York City Marathon.
In 2010, the Spanish National team who won World Cup were also awarded, as did Iker Casillas (Real Madrid) and Xavi Hernández (from FC Barcelona) for their “conciliatory attitude that has smoothed out traditional differences between players and supporters.”
