LOS ANGELES, CA, USA - Stars of the sports and entertainment world graced the Nokia Theater L.A. Live in Los Angeles last night, as the winners of the 2009 ESPY Awards were announced at a gala ceremony. The event, hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, was attended by American Sony Ericsson WTA Tour stars Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Serena Williams took the award for Best Female Tennis Player, beating out world No.1 Dinara Safina and 2009 Roland Garros champion Svetlana Kuznetsova to receive the award. This is the first ESPY Award that Williams has received since 2003, when she won the Best Female Athlete award.
At the ceremony the Williams sisters presented former South African president Nelson Mandela the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Mandela's daughter Zindzi Mandela and grandson Zondwa Mandela accepted the award, which is presented annually to individuals whose contributions transcend sports.
The big winner of the evening was American Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps, who ended Tiger Woods' five year reign as male athlete of the year. Fourteen-time Olympic gold medalist Phelps took home five ESPY awards by the end of the night, including for record-breaking performance and championship performance.
The ESPYs, short for the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, are US cable sports network ESPN's annual player awards. The awards recognize individual and team athletic achievement, and other sports-related performances, during the calendar year preceding the previous ceremony. The awards ceremony is an annual event which has been initiated by US TV network ESPN in the year 1993. ESPN would telecast the show for its viewers on July 19 at 9pm ET.
