I Can Tell You Exactly Why Serena Williams Was in the Super Bowl Halftime Show

Her history with Kendrick Lamar’s nemesis is unforgettable—for someone like me who saw it up close.

The tennis GOAT dancing onstage on Sunday night. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation

This originally appeared in Bounces, the author’s newsletter about the world of professional tennis. It has been reprinted and adapted with permission.

I was greatly enjoying watching the Philadelphia Eagles—of whom I am a devoted fair-weather fan (Go Birds)—dominate Super Bowl 59 when my phone lit up.

Was that Serena?

Indeed it was!

Roc Nation/Apple Music

Seeing Serena Williams popping up during a Super Bowl isn’t surprising; two years ago she was in ads for two different alcohol brands—Rémy Martin and Michelob Ultra—before the first quarter had even ended.

But this time, Serena was there at the big game in person. And she wasn’t just in the crowd; she was gleefully dancing on a grave for four vivid seconds on the screen, hearkening back to my memories of one of the most memorable celebrity hangers-on in my years covering tennis.

This is entirely more gossipy than my standard fare, but since Serena’s surprise appearance became a news event Sunday night, here’s the story of why she was there.

Serena and Drake

Drake—the Canadian rapper whom I admittedly knew best from his acting work on one of my sister’s favorite shows, Degrassi: The Next Generation—became a suddenly constant presence in Serena’s orbit midway through one of her most successful seasons, 2015.

I first remember seeing Drake that year at Wimbledon; he was sitting next to her sister Venus during Serena’s quarterfinal win over Victoria Azarenka. Serena was near the peak of her pop-culture preeminence then, and was collecting celebrities as she progressed toward an elusive calendar-year Grand Slam. By the time she made it to the Wimbledon final, her player box had more star power than the adjacent Royal Box, with Drake joined by the likes of Anna Wintour.

Drake wasn’t acting like the typical celebrity fan, though, someone who would show up for a match and then leave. He trailed Serena around the Wimbledon facilities like a puppy, following her wherever he could. Most memorably for me, Drake sidled into an empty seat next to mine at one of Serena’s post-match Wimbledon press conferences.

It wasn’t shocking that Drake was also there when Serena played in Toronto a month later, since that’s his hometown. But I was genuinely stunned to see him trailing Serena to her next tournament after that, too, shlepping to the far-flung Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, to remain by her side. (Drake wore a big, red puffy jacket to try to blend into the crowd at the summer tournament, unsuccessfully.)

I still remember interviewing Serena’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, in the player lounge in Mason after Serena won the tournament, as Drake sat on a nearby armchair and eavesdropped until Serena returned from the locker room and pulled him away.

Drake was clearly very, very into Serena, but it was never clear how serious Serena was about him. As it happened, Serena had already met her future husband, Alexis Ohanian, a few months earlier in Rome.

Drake also followed Serena to New York, where he attended the heartbreaking loss in the U.S. Open semifinals to Roberta Vinci that ended her Grand Slam bid, and later her show at New York Fashion Week where she showed off her HSN clothing line.

But when I next saw Serena in New York—at the December banquet where she accepted her 2015 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year award—Ohanian was there as her plus-one. Ohanian has occupied that role for Serena ever since, formalizing the status in their 2017 wedding.

Serena moved on from Drake, but Drake seemed to have a much tougher time moving on from Serena.

Seven long years after whatever their relationship had been, Drake addressed Serena and Ohanian in his 2022 track “Middle of the Ocean”: “Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie/ He claim we don’t got a problem but/ No boo, it is like you coming for sushi.”

Of all the insults for Drake to come up with, “groupie” was a wild projection. He was addressing the guy who actually married, settled down, and had a kid with a woman whom he used to follow around on the tour.

The couple, fresh off their five-year anniversary, enjoyed responding to the diss together. “The reason I stay winning is because I’m relentless about being the absolute best at whatever I do,” Ohanian wrote, “including being the best groupie for my wife & daughter.”

The 23-time Grand Slam champion replied below her husband’s response with several smitten, satisfied emojis.

Famously, it wouldn’t be the last time Drake’s attempt at a dig would get shown up by his target’s response.

Serena’s Super Bowl Shuffle

After Kendrick Lamar won a lopsided rap feud with Drake in 2024 that culminated with his track “Not Like Us”—in which he insinuated things that buried Drake with such success that Drake eventually filed a lawsuit—Lamar was named the halftime performer for Super Bowl 59.

As he planned his showcase, Lamar invited Serena to that iconic stage, giving her the chance to make her thoughts on Drake clear in front of the world.

After an early cameo by Samuel L. Jackson, the show reached its peak near the end with Lamar performing “Not Like Us” as Serena, who shares Compton roots with Lamar, was shown dancing the Crip Walk, the same dance she’d famously done on Centre Court after winning a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics.

Serena has long enjoyed dancing, and has some prior experience doing it in front of big crowds, including re-creating her cameo in Beyoncé’s “Sorry” music video during Bey’s subsequent tour for Lemonade.

Serena had never danced, though, in front of anything like the crowd watching Super Bowl 59 around the world.

But her appearance Sunday night made perfect sense to me, and it certainly … struck a chord. Serena has rarely turned down a big stage—or an opportunity to deliver a heavy blow when holding a grudge.