Serena Williams ‘doesn’t know’ if she regrets Super Bowl appearance with Kendrick Lamar
Serena Williams has said that she doesn’t know if she regrets her decision to join Los Angeles rapper Kendrick Lamar on stage for his Super Bowl LIX halftime show in New Orleans.
Television cameras twice cut to Williams Crip Walking during Lamar’s February performance of the song “Not Like Us,” in a reprise of her dance on Wimbledon’s Centre Court at the London 2012 Olympics.
“I don’t know if I regret it or not,” the 23-time Grand Slam champion and greatest women’s tennis player of all time said in an interview with Time magazine.
The track, and Lamar’s performance of it during the Philadelphia Eagles-Kansas City Chiefs matchup, was the latest and highest-profile instalment of a 12-year feud between Lamar and Canadian rapper Drake. One lyric in “Not Like Us” instructs Drake that he “better not speak on Serena,” a reference to his history with Williams. Neither Williams nor Drake has ever publicly confirmed they were in a relationship, but Drake claimed in summer 2024 that he wrote the song “Too Good” about Williams.
“Better not speak on Serena” 🤭 @serenawilliams makes a cameo at the #SuperBowl halftime show 🔥 pic.twitter.com/KBjyPMeom9
— billboard (@billboard) February 10, 2025
In her Time interview, Williams said that she did not intend for her appearance to insult Drake.
“That was sad, that anyone would ever think that,” she said.“I respect how they could. Obviously, I can see how someone would think that. But absolutely not.”
Williams, 43, and Lamar, 37, are both from Compton, a suburb of L.A., a link Williams credited for his request that she join him and her decision to participate. She had been heavily criticized for performing the same dance at the 2012 Olympics, and recalled that criticism immediately after her performance.
“Man, I did not Crip Walk like that at Wimbledon. Ooh, I would’ve been fined,” she said on social media following the Super Bowl show.
Drake has not publicly commented on Williams’ appearance with Lamar.
Williams announced that she was “evolving away from tennis” in September 2022, shortly after her last professional match — a three-set defeat to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović at the U.S. Open.
She has since extended her sports investments, including taking a stake in WNBA franchise the Toronto Tempo and ownership of a team in the TMRW Golf League, a golf league founded by 2025 Masters champion Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
NFL, Sports Business, Culture, Tennis, Women's Tennis
2025 The Athletic Media Company
