Voters focus on Serena 's play

Playing her best at the most important events, Serena Williams re-established herself as the top player in women's tennis in 2009 and was a landslide choice as Female Athlete of the Year by members of The Associated Press.

Williams received 66 of 158 votes cast by editors at U.S. newspapers that are members of the AP. No other candidate got more than 18 votes in the tally, which was announced Tuesday.

Clearly, Williams' most infamous on-court episode -- a tirade directed at a line judge after a foot-fault call near the end of her U.S. Open semifinal loss in September -- didn't hurt her in the eyes of the voters.

"People realize that I'm a great player, and one moment doesn't define a person's career," Williams told the AP. "And I was right, for the most part: It wasn't right the way I reacted -- I never said it was -- but I was right about the call."

Williams finished the year at No. 1 in the WTA rankings. She topped $6.5 million in prize money, breaking the single- season tour record by more than $1 million. She won three significant singles titles -- Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the season-ending tour championships -- and paired with sister Venus to win three Grand Slam doubles championships.

Williams went 50-12 in singles, an .806 winning percentage that was the highest for any woman who played at least 20 matches in 2009. She tied for the tour lead in singles titles. She led the tour with 381 aces, 75 more than anyone else, and also led in percentages of first-service points won and service games won.

Her two Grand Slam singles titles raised her career total to 11, the most among active women. At the year's other two majors, she lost to the eventual champion: Svetlana Kuznetsova (French Open), Kim Clijsters (U.S. Open).

Zenyatta, the 5-year-old mare who capped her 14-0 career by becoming the first female horse to win the Breeders' Cup Classic, finished second with 48 fewer votes than Williams. Last year's AP honoree, WNBA star Candace Parker, edged runner-up Lorena Ochoa by one vote, while two other athletes finished within seven votes of Parker.

Clijsters, who came out of retirement only weeks before winning the U.S. Open, was third in 2009 with 16 votes. Lindsey Vonn, who won her second consecutive overall title in Alpine skiing's World Cup, finished third with 15 votes, followed by Diana Taurasi, the WNBA's MVP, who received 14.