Serena Williams named AP Female Athlete of the Decade after she 'endured it all'

No surprise here.

Tennis player Serena Williams was named The Associated Press' "Female Athlete of The Decade" on Saturday, a well-deserved bookend to a dominate 10-year stretch.

The 38-year-old won 12 Grand Slam singles titles between 2010 and 2019 (giving her 23 total for her career), which is all the more impressive considering no other women's player had more than three titles during that stretch. Williams also won gold medals in the 2012 Olympics in both singles and doubles alongside her sister, Venus Williams, and she became the oldest woman ever to win a Grand Slam singles trophy in the professional era.

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The on-court performances were stellar, but Williams also "transcended" the sport off it, AP reports.

"When the history books are written, it could be that the great Serena Williams is the greatest athlete of all time," said Stacey Allaster, the former CEO of the Women's Tennis Association from 2009-2015, who now serves as the chief executive for tennis at the U.S. Tennis Association. "Whether it was health issues; coming back; having a child; almost dying from that — she has endured it all and she is still in championship form." Read more at The Associated Press.