Serena Williams Has the Last Laugh with Her Surprise Super Bowl Moves as She Claps Back at Past Wimbledon Criticism

The tennis champion reflected on her crip-walking skills at the Super Bowl in a post on X, previously Twitter

Serena Williams, pictured, at the Super Bowl 2025. Photo: Emilee Chinn/Getty

Serena Williams is hitting the beat!

On Sunday, Feb. 9, the tennis player, 43, made a surprise appearance on stage at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans as part of Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance. She showcased her crip-walking skills as she recreated the energetic dance move famed by the Los Angeles Crips in the 1970s.

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“Man I did not crip-walk like that at Wimbledon,” Williams said in a backstage video shared on X. “Oh, I would’ve been fined,” she said before adding “It was all love.”

A throwback clip shared on Instagram by Complex Sports shows Williams dancing to Tha Dogg Pound’s “Keep It Gangster.”

The tennis player — in a blue mini skirt and jacket and matching sneakers — is seen raising her hands above her head as she bounces briefly from side to side before laughing.

Back in 2012, Williams found herself at the center of a heated debate for performing moves similar to a crip walk after defeating Maria Sharapova at the London Olympics due to the dance’s reported association with gang culture.

In a press conference at the time, Williams was asked if she had any regrets performing a crip walk as it’s “not just a dance,” per U.K. newspaper The Guardian.

“First of all. It was just a dance,” she replied. “I didn’t know that’s what it was called. Second, why are you asking me that? If anything, you should be trying to ask me questions to lift me up not bring such things … I’m done with that question,” she added.

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Serena Williams, pictured, at the Super Bowl 2025.Kevin Mazur/Getty
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After dancing to Lamar’s Grammy-winning single “Not Like Us”  — a diss track aimed at rapper Drake, 38, — on Sunday, Feb. 9, Williams shared a video of herself on Instagram practicing the controversial moves.

“Let’s go Super Bowl halftime??! I died a little! 💃🏿,” she captioned the post.

Williams’ decision to dance to Lamar’s song came as a surprise as she and Drake dated previously.