Serena Williams (Compton, Calif.) has been nominated in the individual category for tennis and basketball player Lisa Leslie (Hawthorne, Calif./USC) is a nominee for team honors.

Williams won three-straight Grand Slam singles titles in 2002, including the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. She was honored as the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for 2002. When Williams won the Australian Open in January, 2003, she earned her fourth straight Grand Slam singles title, becoming the fifth woman to hold all four titles at once. She followed up that victory with a semi-final run at the 2003 French Open and another Grand Slam win at Wimbledon in July.

During the 2002-2003 season Williams won a total of six Women’s Tennis Association tour singles titles. In both January and March 2003, she was voted Player of the Month by the International Tennis Writers’ Association. Williams spent 57 consecutive weeks as the No. 1 ranked women’s singles player in the world, relinquishing the position after knee surgery in August. As of July 25, 2003, her singles record since January 2002 was 58-5.

Thus far in 2003, Williams has been honored as the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year, the ESPY Female Athlete of the Year and the ESPY Female Tennis Player of the Year. Williams was also a gold medalist at the 2000 Sydney Games, winning the women’s doubles competition with her sister, Venus.

In 2002, Leslie guided the Los Angeles Sparks to their second-straight WNBA title, claiming the WNBA Championship MVP honor along the way. She was named to the All WNBA First Team and at the close of the season was the league’s leading scorer and rebounder. In addition, in July she became the first player to dunk in a WNBA game and the first WNBA player to reach the 3,000-point mark. In September, Leslie helped the U.S. team win a gold medal at the Federation Internationale Basketball Association World Championships, averaging 17.2 points and 8.1 rebounds in an average of only 22.6 minutes an outing. She was recognized as the World Championship MVP and received All-World Championship Team honors. Leslie was named the 2002 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year and the USOC Female Athlete of the Month for September 2002.

Leslie was selected as a member of the undefeated 2003 WNBA West All-Star Team. She earned a 2003 ESPY Award for Best WNBA Player. Leslie led the Sparks to their third-straight WNBA final, where they lost to the Detroit Shock. For the 2003 WNBA season, she ranked first in offensive rebounds per game, second in blocks per game, third in double-doubles and fourth in scoring with 18.4 points per game.

Leslie was also a member of two gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic teams in 1996 and 2000 and is the top U.S. Olympic scorer ever, scoring 282 points in the two Games combined.

The Sportswoman of the Year will be announced at the annual Women's Sports Awards Dinner on Oct. 20, 2003.