Serena Williams has been showing up in all kinds of places recently. Not that she has ever been completely out of the limelight, but that has taken an uptick in February. She was at the Super Bowl earlier in the month, which included sprinting down the field before the game, and was part of Kendrick Lamar's halftime show. This weekend, she appeared at Inter Miami's first game of the season.
At the game, which Miami drew with New York City, Miami owner David Beckham delivered Williams a shirt of the team. What stood out most to many was the kind of shape Williams was in. She looked ready to play a Grand Slam event again as she was in stellar condition.
If anyone is looking for a bit of inspiration and how to keep toned, Williams has some ideas. She told The Today Show last year that she is more active since she retired from tennis than she was when she played the sport. She also does high-intensity interval training. We should all follow her lead, most likely.
Serena Williams stays in shape, Jack Draper drops out, and Mirra Andreeva does her best Snoop Dogg
One player who has chosen not to play in their next event is Jack Draper. He had a great run recently in Qatar, but he lost to Andrey Rublev in the final. In the new ATP rankings, the Brit will jump four spots to a career-high number 12. But he won't be earning any points at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Draper has decided to "manage" his body and not play in Dubai. To be fair, he was dealing with a hip issue earlier this year, and the tennis season will continue until November. He has a real chance to make the top 10 in 2025, but not if he is injured. Taking a bit of time off is likely the right move.
Mirra Andreeva also had a good run this week and did one better than Draper. The 17-year-old Russian won her first 1000 event by taking the title in Dubai. She was the young female player to ever win a 1000 tournament. She was so young, in fact, that she could not drink the champagne most winners do for winning the tournament.
Her post-final speech, though, has drawn comparisons to rapper Snoop Dogg. Andreeva said, "I’d like to thank me. I know what I’ve been dealing with, so I want to thank me for always believing in me. I want to thank me for never quitting and always dealing with the pressure."
In 2018, while accepting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Snoop said, "I want to thank me for believing in me. I want to thank me for doing all this hard work. I want to thank me for having no days off. I want to thank me for never quitting. I want to thank me for always being a giver and trying to give more than I receive. I want to thank me for trying to do more right and wrong. I want to thank me for just being me at all times."