Caitlin Clark was a big winner at the 2024 ESPY Award. She won the Best College Athlete Award for her stellar campaign with the Iowa Hawkeyes and Best Record-Breaking Performance Award for usurping Pete Maravich’s 54-year-old record for most points by an NCAA athlete. The Indiana Fever star couldn’t attend the ceremony and accepted the awards virtually. However, after learning she was the first female athlete to win the Record-Breaking Performance Award, she expressed astonishment about Serena Williams never winning it.
Advertisement
Following the Fever’s 95-86 win over the Phoenix Mercury, Clark was asked for her thoughts about her double win at the ESPY Awards. She responded that she was ecstatic about women’s sports getting its long-overdue recognition. However, she added that ESPY Awards host and 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams should have already had a Best Record-Breaking Performance Award win on her resume. Clark said,
“I think it’s super cool. I think it probably shouldn’t have been the first woman to ever win that award, in my eyes. Just because I grew up supporting so many different female athletes that I idolized and loved. The amount of records I saw people break and win… Like how did Serena Williams never win that award? That’s crazy.”
Caitlin Clark is grateful to be the first woman to with the ESPY for best record-breaking moment, but thinks it’s long overdue:
“How does Serena Williams never win that award? That’s crazy.” pic.twitter.com/L0KpXYopwT
— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) July 12, 2024
Williams, arguably the greatest female tennis player ever, delivered several record-breaking performances during her career that should have earned her an ESPY in that category. She was the Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) top-ranked player for 319 weeks, including a run of 186 consecutive weeks as the #1 player in the circuit, a record she shares with Steffi Graf.
Williams’ 23 Grand Slam wins were the most in the tennis’ ‘Open Era,’ until Novak Djokovic surpassed her after his win at the 2023 US Open, taking his tally to 24. Her list of achievements is endless, and Clark’s amazement about her never winning the Best Record-Breaking Performance Award is justified.
While the Fever star sang Williams’ praises, the respect wasn’t reciprocated as the tennis star made a crude joke at the rookie’s expense during the ESPYs.
Serena Williams makes snide comment about Caitlin Clark’s fanbase
During her opening monologue, the 23-time Grand Slam champion compared Clark to Larry Bird and made a racial joke about the Fever star’s fanbase. Williams said,
“You [Caitlin Clark] are the Larry Bird in that you are an amazing player, you have ties to Indiana, and white people are really crazy about you.”
The joke unsurprisingly received a lukewarm response. Clark has brought in droves of new fans to the WNBA and she has been anointed by many as the league’s savior. However, that hasn’t sat well with the league’s long-time fans and even some players like Angel Reese, who believe the rookie is getting undeserved praise for the spike in interest in women’s basketball.
Williams’ crude remark has only fanned the flames of tension. While there’s no harm in taking a jibe at Clark, opting to make a racial joke was a lapse in judgment.
