Serena Williams has hit back at the backlash she received following her appearance at the 2025 Super Bowl.

The tennis icon came under fire on social media earlier this month for her performance during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show.

Serena appeared on the side of the stage as Kendrick performed a version of his Grammy-winning Drake diss track Not Like Us.

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Shortly after the event, the retired sports star was criticised for performing the Crip Walk dance during the show, a dance she was also slammed for performing to celebrate her victory at the 2012 London Olympics.

Serena was also accused by social media users of appearing to diss Drake, who she is widely believed to have dated in the past, by teaming up with his rap rival Kendrick amid their ongoing feud.

In response to the backlash, Serena’s husband Alexis Ohanian took to X to defend his wife, writing, “Some of y’all have no idea how criticised Serena was for this same dance at Wimbledon 13 years ago and it shows….This is bigger than the music.”

Serena has now taken to X a week later to respond to the criticism.

“That there my baby daddy and husband. Always got my back. I Love you,” the 43-year-old wrote on Monday. “Gosh I’m so late to the game (I’ve been sick) & busy investing in billion dollar companies and running @WYNbeauty… def not dancing to be petty lol.”

The sports star, who won 23 Grand Slams during her career, continued, “I think I proved 23 times over (not counting four gold medals) that I simply don’t have time for petty. All love and respect always nothing negative here.”