By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Friday, July 12, 2024
Tennis legend Serena Williams served up fashion, songs, and heat at the 2024 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles. The 23-time major singles champion hosted the awards show that honors accomplishments across all sports including high school, college, and professional.
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The evening kicked off with Pop and R&B star Ciara performing an opening number that featured dancers wearing many of Serena’s iconic tennis outfits over the years.
Thanks for having me! #ESPYS24 🫶🏽 https://t.co/m6bJk0sC0n
— Ciara (@ciara) July 12, 2024
Serena, not to be outdone, made multiple appearances throughout the evening wearing a variety of outfits and hairstyles. The most memorable moments included Serena, a huge karaoke fan, doing two renditions of the now famous/infamous song “Will You Be My Tennis Ball?” sung back in 2003 by then host Jamie Foxx to a then 22-year-old Serena who was sitting in the audience.
“I miss you Jamie. You never had a shot.” @serenawilliams had to remix @iamjamiefoxx‘s ‘Tennis Ball’ song dedicated to her 😂 pic.twitter.com/ejnacsz8MZ
— ESPYS (@ESPYS) July 12, 2024
Later, Serena came back on stage to perform another version of the song to her now good friend and former tennis rival Maria Sharapova. Serena acknowledged that the original song probably couldn’t be performed today on live TV.
“We wanted to do another remix of Jamie’s beautiful and utterly unacceptable song, Serena said laughing in her intro. I dedicate this one to a very special person in my life… this one goes out to Maria Sharapova.” Williams started the performance, singing: “She could be my tennis ball. She’s Russian, blonde and very tall.” Serena then later added, “People say we had a feud, which was presumptuous and kinda rude. Besides that I beat her 20 times.”
Serena Williams dedicates a song to Maria Sharapova.
“She could be my tennis ball” 🎾🎙️🎶 #ESPYS pic.twitter.com/AoFRedjtSR
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 12, 2024
Serena, in another part of the show, served up some heat during a segment celebrating women athletes. While joined on stage by big sister Venus Williams and television star Quinta Brunson, she called out Kansas City Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker who recently faced backlash for controversial comments he made about women at a recent commencement ceremony at Benedictine College.
“So, go ahead and enjoy women’s sports…
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