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Drake sits courtside for Serena Williams vs Belinda Bencic in semi-final tennis action of Rogers Cup play at the Aviva Centre on Aug. 15, 2015
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Key Takeaways:
- Drake liked a comment calling Sexyy Red a “Serena Williams upgrade,” sparking renewed drama.
- The Instagram moment reignited fan speculation about his past with Williams and current tensions.
- Their history includes a rumored relationship and past lyrical shots, including a 2022 diss aimed at Williams’ husband.
Drake just can’t help himself. The Toronto rapper has stirred a commotion after eagle-eyed social media users spotted that he liked an Instagram comment that shaded tennis legend Serena Williams.
For context, the 6 God and Williams were once romantically involved in the early to mid 2010s. Flash forward to the Super Bowl 2025 halftime show and the latter was spotted on stage Crip Walking during Kendrick Lamar’s performance of “Not Like Us.” Along with other cameos, the show was widely considered another win for the Compton rapper in his ongoing battle with Drizzy.
On Tuesday (Nov. 18), Champagne Papi posted a series of photos with rapper Sexyy Red on his Instagram. The tennis-themed pictures appeared alongside the caption: “I said tennis lesson. She said where’s the bracelet or the necklace.”
The post was innocent enough (besides the “Pound Town” rapper being bent over with her butt facing the camera in a couple of snaps). However, one comment on the post read, “Serena Williams upgrade,” along with a pair of fire emojis. Sharp-eyed observers, including TMZ, noticed that Drake liked the aforementioned comment.
When it comes to tennis, Sexyy and the owner of multiple Wimbledon, US Open and more tennis titles than you can name aren’t even in the same galaxy. Regardless, the alleged shade is on-brand for Drake since he’s previously taken shots at the pro tennis GOAT. On his 2022 track “Middle of the Ocean,” Drizzy rapped, “Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie / He claim we don’t got a problem but / No, boo, it is like you comin’ for sushi / We might pop up on ’em at will like Suzuki,” referring to her hubbie, Alexis Ohanian.
Notably, a day after Williams danced to “Not Like Us” at the Super Bowl — which she adamantly claimed was not aimed at the rapper and instead an homage to her Compton hometown — Ohnian took to X to remind everyone how his wife was vilified for the same moves after she won a gold medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
“Some of y’all have no idea how criticized Serena was for this same dance at Wimbledon 13 years ago and it shows,” he tweeted. “This is bigger than the music.”
We’ll have to wait and see if Williams responds in kind to Drake, but we wouldn’t hold our breath.