Serena Williams’ Super Bowl appearance with Kendrick Lamar ends a Drake tennis culture feud

Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court.

This week, Daniil Medvedev’s slump continued, another tennis tournament confirmed it was getting longer, and an American reached her first 500-level final after a strange week for her compatriots. But then Serena Williams appeared at Super Bowl LIX with Kendrick Lamar, bringing the hammer down on Drake once more.

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Why Serena Williams joined Kendrick Lamar at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans

Serena Williams upstaged Taylor Swift, the Kansas City Chiefs and Drake at the Super Bowl halftime show Sunday night, bringing down the curtain on one of the more unlikely feuds in tennis culture. The 23-time Grand Slam champion, widely regarded as the greatest women’s player of all time, appeared during Kendrick Lamar’s performance of “Not Like Us.” Television cameras twice cut to Williams crip walking, in a reprise of her dance on Wimbledon’s Centre Court at the London 2012 Olympics.

From Compton to NOLA. @SerenaWilliams @KendrickLamar #AppleMusicHalftime pic.twitter.com/mnzuP7fJ1N

— NFL (@NFL) February 10, 2025

After the show, Williams recalled the criticism she received in 2012. “Man, I did not crip walk like that at Wimbledon. Ooh, I would’ve been fined,” she said on social media.

Williams, 43, and Lamar, 37, are both from Compton, LA, but the meaning behind Williams’ appearance runs much deeper. “Not Like Us” is the latest instalment in a 12-year feud between Lamar and Drake that exploded in May 2024, when the two men released a string of diss tracks littered with accusations and attacks “regarding race, appropriation, sexual and physical abuse, body image, misogyny, hypocrisy, generational trauma and more.” “Not Like Us” was already perceived as the definitive diss track before Lamar’s victory lap Sunday night in New Orleans; one line goes “better not speak on Serena”, in reference to Drake and Williams’ history.

Drake closely followed Williams throughout her 2015 season, appearing not just at majors but at WTA 1000 tournaments like the Cincinnati Open, having been seen at her matches in 2011. Though neither have ever publicly confirmed that they dated, Drake claimed that he wrote “Too Good” about Williams in studio footage released in summer 2024.

In 2022, Drake referred to Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, as a “groupie” on “Middle of the Ocean,” to which Reddit co-founder Ohanian, 41, responded that “being the best groupie for my wife and daughter” was the reason he stays winning. Williams’ contribution to the fleeting beef was just a string of loved-up emojis — until the 59th edition of the biggest cultural showcase in American sports. Between Lamar and Williams, Drake will be waking up sore.

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