Receiving huge honors from Sports Illustrated, Serena Williams has been named the magazine’s Sportsperson of the Year. The top-ranked tennis player and licensed nail tech turned to nailebrity Elaine Watson for her cover nails.

For the cover shot, Watson reshaped Williams’ nails into a slimmer, pointier almond shape. Watson then painted the nails in Cuccio Veneer 2 AM in Hollywood and matted out the shine using a very fine buffer. She then painted the pinky in a gold base color and covered it in gold domes from Cina Pro and also added tiny Swarovski crystals in between the gold embellishments using a crystal katana.

“The cat’s out of the bag! . . .What a way to close out my first year of doing celebrity nails with a great bang!” Watson wrote on her Facebook page. “Oh and for those of you that don’t know, [Williams] is a licensed nail tech. During one of her injuries she took a nail course. She’s one of us, an incredible woman, beautiful in every way.”

Didn’t know Williams attended nail school? Click here to read about her journey. What do you think about the athlete’s cover manicure? Let us know in the comments below!