Serena Williams features in Carrie Underwood video

Carrie Underwood's new music video for her single "The Champion" salutes a long list of heroes worth celebrating.

US Open footage of Serena Williams herself enters the picture at the 2:32 mark, directly after a glimpse at race car driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Williams appears again in a grid effect at clip's end.

With an assist from rapper Ludacris, Underwood's video races through literally and viscerally moving images of professional athletes, Special Olympians, Paralympians, firefighters, teachers, civil rights organizers, astronauts, entertainers (including herself) and more.

The video nearly has it all, traveling through space and time from an American moonwalk to wheelchair basketball players, from a Selma march to Underwood's own American Idol experience.

Underwood's inspirations run the gamut. The world has a rich history of heroes – and, in Billie Jean King's parlance, "sheroes" – well worth esteeming for the aspirational qualities they provide to others who come alongside and after them.

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.