Serena Williams said it’s “sad” the public would assume she joined Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance at Super Bowl 2025 to shade her ex-boyfriend, Drake.
During an interview with “TIME,” the tennis legend explained that she was “absolutely not” shading her ex when she danced to Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” a diss track aimed at Drake, on stage at Caesar’s Superdome in February.
“Absolutely not. I would never do that,” Williams said. “And that was sad, that anyone would ever think that. I respect how they could. Obviously I can see how someone would think that. But absolutely not.
“I have never had negative feelings towards him. We’ve known him for so many years.”
Williams’ surprise cameo made waves online.
“I don’t know if I regret it or not,” she said of her decision to dance. “I don’t know the answer to that.”
Williams explained that working with Lamar was a long time in the making, and that it was a way to pay homage to Compton, Calif., where they both were born and raised.
“Who would have thought that a tennis player from Compton would be regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time?” she said. “It was just putting an exclamation on it.”
Lamar’s “Not Like Us” song name-drops Williams and accuses Drake of sexual impropriety.
Drake, who has denied the allegations, sued the Universal Music Group, the record company behind the song, for defamation.
UMG has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Williams and Drake dated in the 2010s, and he previously revealed he wrote his hit song, “Too Good,” with Rihanna for Williams.
Williams, the world’s former No. 1, retired from tennis in 2022 and won 23 major women’s singles championships during her illustrious career.