Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Aryna Sabalenka and pickleball all featured during Super Bowl LIX
Court sports shined on football's biggest day, from an unexpected halftime show appearance...to Elmo talking tennis...to pickleball hustling from Catherine O’Hara and William Dafoe.
Super Bowl Sunday is football's biggest day—and this year, tennis shared the spotlight.
Serena Williams joined Kendrick Lamar’s Halftime Show, becoming one the of most talked-about happenings from the Philadelphia Eagles’ drama-free win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff and Chris Eubanks were among the many tennis names reacting in real time to the surprise cameo in New Orleans, along with Andy Roddick:
Roger Federer had his own Super Bowl moment, starring alongside Elmo in a new On commercial, where tennis scoring was explained to the cute little red monster.
That wasn’t all.
Nike celebrated women’s sports this year in “So Win,” where Aryna Sabalenka and tennis were featured alongside Caitlin Clark (basketball), Jordan Chiles (gymnastics), Sabrina Ionescu (basketball), Sha'Carri Richardson (track and field), A'ja Wilson (basketball) and Sophia Wilson (soccer):
Beyond tennis, Michelob ULTRA took it upon themselves to highlight pickleball.
Catherine O’Hara and William Dafoe are the pickleball hustling doubles duo in this ad, where a seemingly weaker team ends up destroying younger, fitter duos on the court. Titled “The ULTRA Hustle”, the ad has already seen 18 million views on YouTube:
Given what we've seen in February, the only doubles team superior to O'Hara and Dafoe might be pop culture and tennis. Bring on the Sunshine Double—and ads during March Madness?