Serena Williams has revealed she purposefully avoided Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl because Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs were losing.
The tennis legend was in attendance at the Superdome in New Orleans and wanted to get Swift’s autograph for her daughter, Olympia.
Williams and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, were going to try and meet Swift in her suite while she watched boyfriend Kelce in action.
But the 23-time grand slam champion eventually opted against bothering the popstar after watching the Philadelphia Eagles torch the Chiefs as the game progressed.
The Chiefs’ bid to win an unprecedented third-straight Super Bowl ended in disaster as the Eagles cruised to a dominant 40-22 victory.
And Williams admitted the way the game panned out ensured there was never an ideal moment to knock on the door of Swift’s suite.
I’m such a mom,’ Williams told Time after being named as one of the magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.
‘I was ready to go in here myself and be like, “Taylor, come get this girl.” It’s hard when your team is losing. I totally get it.’
Swift was also mercilessly booed by fans inside the Superdome when she appeared on the big screen.
Williams added: ‘Why would you boo her? That’s so mean. That’s just awful.’
In the same interview, Williams denied that her cameo in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show was ever meant to be a dig at Drake – insisting she is still on good terms with her famous ex.
She made a shock appearance when Kendrick performed ‘Not Like Us’ – his notorious diss track about Drake – during the game in February.
Her viral c-walking cameo was all the more significant given she is rumored to have briefly dated Drake between 2011 and 2015, meaning many were quick to assume she was throwing shade at her old flame by dancing along to a controversial song with lyrics calling him a ‘pedophile’.
Another lyric in the diss track also says ‘n**** better not speak on Serena’.
The tennis legend made a shock appearance during Kendrick Lamar’s diss track about Drake
Yet despite dancing to the song on one of the largest platforms possible, Williams has stressed that she never intended to throw shade at the Canadian rapper.
She told TIME when asked if she was firing shots at Drake: ‘Absolutely not. I would never do that. 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.’
