Venus Williams takes two ESPYs

By Team WTA
July 11 2002

Venus Williams won two ESPYs for female athlete of the year and female tennis player, a category in which she beat out her sister and Jennifer Capriati.

Venus Williams won two ESPYs for female athlete of the year and female tennis player, a category in which she beat out her sister and Jennifer Capriati.

Serena Williams accepted Venus' female athlete trophy, saying her sister couldn't attend because of an unspecified prior obligation.

'I talked to her on the phone and she said she wanted this award to go to the rest of our family for all the support they provide,' Serena said.

Capriati was selected comeback athlete over Michael Jordan and three NHL players. She won last year's Australian and French opens.

'I actually beat Michael Jordan in something?' she said onstage.

The Arthur Ashe Courage Award was shared by Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett and Jeremy Glick, four passengers on United Flight 93 who were killed Sept. 11 when the plane crashed into a Pennsylvania field after being taken over by terrorists.

Three of the men's widows and Bingham's mother received a prolonged standing ovation when they took the stage. Wednesday would have been Ashe's 59th birthday. He died in 1993.

Because the show moved to July from February, nominees were considered from a time period of more than a year and in some sports, more than one season.

The winners were chosen by a 151-member panel comprised of Hall of Fame athletes and coaches, and print and broadcast journalists.