Serena Williams Closes Out One Of The All-Time Great Seasons

Serena Williams came back to defeat Li Na in the WTA Championships today, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. Williams won the final nine games, including a bagel in the third set, which caps off the greatest year of her already-storied career, and one of the most dominating seasons in the history of women's tennis. Williams finished 78-4 this year, with two Grand Slams, 11 titles overall, and the No. 1 ranking. Serena Williams is 32 years old (for context: Roger Federer is 32 years old too). Williams becomes the first player in women's tennis history to crack the $10 million mark in yearly winnings, with $12.38 million. Only three men have ever done it: Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafa Nadal. Other dominating seasons in women's tennis history: Martina Navratilova's 1983 campaign, when she went 86-1; and Steffi Graf's 1989 season, when she went 86-2.

It wouldn't be a Serena Williams year without Serena-like controversies— her feud with American upstart Sloane Stephens, her comments about the Steubenville rape case and Maria Sharapova. But the tennis was the story of her season, with the personal merging with the professional. Williams's partnership, romantic and otherwise, with Patrick Mouratoglou has turned into one of the great coach-player pairings in tennis history—well, for a single year, at least. Down below, we've posted her finest rapid-fire "Come ons!" during the U.S. Open, the highlights of the year. She's having fun.