Serena Williams Honored with 2025 Princesa de Asturias Award, Advocates for Gender Equality in Sports
Serena Williams receives Spain's 2025 Princesa de Asturias Award for Sports and calls for gender pay equality in tennis and women's sports worldwide.
- • Serena Williams awarded the 2025 Princesa de Asturias Award for Sports in Oviedo, Spain.
- • She emphasizes the critical need for equal pay and gender equality in sports.
- • Williams has an outstanding record of 73 singles titles, 23 Grand Slams, and four Olympic gold medals.
- • She credits her father's influence and encourages young athletes to persevere despite financial hurdles.
Key details
Tennis legend Serena Williams received the prestigious 2025 Princesa de Asturias Award for Sports in Oviedo, Spain, in recognition of her extraordinary career and her steadfast advocacy for gender equality, particularly equal pay in sports. The award ceremony took place at Teatro Campoamor, where Williams expressed her deep honor in being acknowledged among the greats in tennis history, including past female recipients Martina Navratilova, Arancha Sánchez-Vicario, and Steffi Graf.
Williams, who retired in September 2022, amassed an impressive total of 73 singles titles, including 23 Grand Slams, held the world number one ranking for 309 weeks, and earned four Olympic gold medals. Her competitive spirit and dedication on the court were matched by her off-court commitment to social causes through her foundations like The Serena Williams Foundation and The Williams Sisters Fund, focusing on education and support for victims of violence.
At the Oviedo press conference, Williams passionately highlighted the ongoing fight to close the gender pay gap in tennis, recalling moments during Grand Slam events when she was not equally compensated despite equal effort. She declared, "We deserve the same pay for the same work," underscoring the importance of equality in earnings between male and female athletes. Williams encouraged young tennis players, especially those passionate but financially constrained, to remain persistent, drawing inspiration from her humble beginnings and the technological advances that have now made tennis more accessible.
She also honored her late father's pivotal role, attributing her and her sister Venus's tennis success to his dedication to securing them better futures. In addition, Williams showed admiration for Spain's tennis landscape, praising rising star Carlos Alcaraz and acknowledging the country's rich tennis legacy with Rafa Nadal.
This award cements Serena Williams not only as one of the greatest athletes but also as a global symbol for equal opportunities and rights in sports, championing lasting change for future generations.
This article was synthesized and translated from native language sources to provide English-speaking readers with local perspectives.