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Serena Williams likes to make one thing clear: She is never satisfied, no matter how many matches and tournaments she wins. Driven as ever, Williams won plenty this year. She went 78-4 with 11 titles, including at the French Open and U.S. Open, raising her Grand Slam championship total to 17. She compiled a 34-match winning streak. She earned more than $12 million in prize money, a record for womens tennis. In February, she became the oldest No. 1 in WTA rankings history and never left that perch. Thanks to all of that, Williams was honoured Wednesday as The Associated Press 2013 Female Athlete of the Year. Its the third AP award for Williams, following 2002 and 2009. Only two women have been chosen more often as AP Athlete of the Year since the annual awards were first handed out in 1931. "Whenever I lose, I get more determined, and it gives me something more to work toward," Williams told the AP in an interview shortly before the start of the U.S. Open. "I dont get complacent, and I realize I need to work harder and I need to do better and I want to do better — or I wouldnt keep playing this game." The vote by news organizations was about as lopsided as many of Williams matches this season. She received 55 of 96 votes, while Brittney Griner, a two-time AP Player of the Year in college basketball and the No. 1 pick in Aprils WNBA draft, finished second with 14. Swimmer Missy Franklin was next with 10. The Male Athlete of the Year recipient will be announced Thursday. Williams, who grew up in Compton, Calif., and turned 32 in September, produced the finest womens tennis season in years. According to the WTA: — her .951 winning percentage was the best since Steffi Grafs .977 in 1989; — her 11 titles were the most since Martina Hingis 12 in 1997; — her winning streak was the longest since her sister, Venus, had a 35-match run in 2000. "She just continues to be an inspiration to American tennis," said Gordon Smith, the executive director of the U.S. Tennis Association, which runs the U.S. Open. "Her year this year? Unforgettable." By adding a fifth career U.S. Open championship, and a second French Open title, Williams also moved within one Grand Slam trophy of the 18 apiece won by Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. The record is 24 by Margaret Court. Pretty heady company. Evert is one of the only two women with more AP awards than Williams. Evert won four from 1974-80, while Babe Didrikson collected a record six — one for track in 1932, and five for golf from 1945-54. "Serena already has provided significant contributions to taking our sport to the next level. ... She is chasing records and no doubt will break many records before shes finished," WTA Chairman Stacey Allaster said. "That obviously just brings a lot more attention to our sport." Two particular moments in 2013 stuck out to Allaster. One came at Qatar in February, when Williams cried after assuring herself of returning to No. 1 for the first time since 2010, the year the American needed two operations on her right foot and got blood clots in her lungs. "You could see the joy, the tears of joy. It meant so much to her, from everything she had been through, to be able to be back at the top of the sport, a sport that she does truly love," Allaster said. The second moment came during Wimbledon, when Williams joined other women who have been ranked No. 1 at a celebration of the WTAs 40th anniversary. "It was an opportunity to see her in a leadership position. ... She did a remarkable job at speaking on behalf of all those great athletes and speaking to future players," Allaster said. "Theres a little girl, perhaps out there in Compton, who is dreaming of playing on the WTA, and Serena said, Were waiting for you, and we cant wait to meet you." 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The team is still trying to figure out how to incorporate all the new faces that have replaced him.When the Heat play James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in a preseason game in Rio on Saturday, the main focus is on speeding up the rebuilding process after losing their biggest star.Dwyane Wade acknowledged Friday that there is a lot of work to do before the regular season starts.Weve got to learn every day, there are a lot of teams that are so far ahead of us as teams, Wade said.The game in Rio will be Miamis third in the preseason. It lost to the New Orleans Pelicans and the Orlando Magic earlier this month. No wonder the word patience was thrown around quite a bit on Friday.We are trying to understand that we are behind the eight ball because weve got 13 new guys, Wade said. Weve only been together for 10 days on the basketball floor. Weve got to all understand that weve got to have patience, because the last two years just happened, we had the same team and it just happened. But now this is not that kind of team, so we all have to have patience and understand that its a process.Chris Bosh, the other remaining member of the Heats former Big Three, said everyone knows this team will have to work harder than in previous years to make sure its ready for the Oct. 29 opeener against the Washington Wizards.ddddddddddddWith this team we have to be patient with each other, he said. We have to get better at it and its going to take time. We are going to make mistakes and we have to understand that.We are not even close right now, but I like where we are headed, Bosh added. Guys are enthusiastic, its a very hard-working group. We are starting to pay attention to details, we are starting to really grasp how things go. Saturday will be another opportunity for us to get better.Coach Erik Spoelstra has been downplaying the encounter with James, trying to focus instead how to improve the revamped team.Spoelstra said he is trying to install a defensive system and thats taking some time. He said there is some growth to go in that area.Its always different when you have new faces, Spoelstra said. And thats the journey we are on right now with this group and we are trying to fast-track it. Thats why this week is an important week for us.Cavs coach David Blatt pointed out that the Heat arent the only ones with new players.We have a lot of new faces too, Blatt said. At this stage it really doesnt affect either team. Both teams are very much in the beginning of their respective processes and we are hopeful that this game, like any other game in the preseason, will help us grow.___Follow Tales Azzoni at http://www.twitter.com/tazzoni ' ' '