Serena Williams jokes about “Taylor Swift’s boyfriend” at the 2024 ESPYS

Serena Williams drew laughs as she hosted the 2024 ESPY Awards on Thursday, July 11.

The 42-year-old tennis star made Travis Kelce‘s romance with Taylor Swift during her opening monologue at the awards ceremony, which took place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.

“Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs. This year Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift’s boyfriend won a Super Bowl,” she joked as Chiefs coach Andy Reid was spotted in the audience, referring to the nickname 34-year-old Kelce received after his romance with Swift, also 34, became public last fall.

Williams teased: “Travis and Taylor reportedly spent $100,000 a day on their romance. That’s a lot of money. At least that’s what I was told (Boston Celtics shooting guard) Jaylen Brown He spends on his beard. It’s very shiny. I like it anyway.”

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Popular athletes flocked to Los Angeles to celebrate sports’ biggest night in style. The 2024 ESPYs took place on Thursday, July 11, at the Dolby Theater, and the evening’s star-studded guests did not disappoint. We’re talking glamorous evening gowns, stylish suits, and fabulous footwear. Serena Williams – who served as the ceremony’s hostess – was a (…)

She also joked about “another memorable moment in sports this year” when Lebron James‘ Son Bronny James was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, making them the first father-son duo to play for the same NBA team.

“I really hope Bronny has a long career, so long that we see his hairline recede and then miraculously recover like his dad did,” Williams said, drawing great laughter from the audience.

The tennis champion then took the opportunity to toast her own success, which includes the Oscar-winning film about her journey. King Richard. “Will Smith played my father. He was so good at it that he won an Oscar even after Chris Rock”, she teased, referring to Smith’s altercation with Rock, 59, during the 2022 awards ceremony when Smith, 55, got upset about Rock’s joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smithand slapped him on stage.

Williams added: “I thought to myself, ‘Damn it, Will, you have to get out of character.'”

Finally, Williams gave her long-time friends Meghan Markle And Prince Harry for participating in the award ceremony.

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The 2024 ESPY Awards honored the biggest names in sports and some were lucky enough to take home the coveted silver statue. The ESPYs, which stand for “Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly,” began on Thursday, July 11, at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. Serena Williams hosted the evening. Before the (…)

Before she took the stage, Williams walked the red carpet with her husband. Alexis Ohanianand their eldest daughter Olympia, 6. The trio posed for photos and stole all the attention from the crowd in Hollywood. The couple’s youngest daughter, Adira, 11 months, did not join the trip.

Williams’ hosting gig comes nearly two years after she announced her retirement from tennis in the September 2022 issue of Fashion after winning 23 Grand Slam titles. She announced at the time that she would retire from the sport to focus on her family.

“Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and family,” she wrote in her Fashion Essay. “I don’t think that’s fair. If I were a man, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife does the physical work of raising a family. Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had the opportunity.”

Williams and her husband Ohanian married in November 2017 and had their daughters Olympia and Adira in September 2017 and August 2023 respectively.

In June, Williams talked about adjusting to the new normal after her retirement.

“It’s fun. It’s different. It’s a life I’ve never experienced before,” she said The New York Times“You have to understand: my whole life, since I can remember, it’s been about one thing. I don’t know anything else. And that’s why this is all new to me. It’s like a whole new career. And of course I prefer playing tennis, but that’s because I’ve been doing it my whole life. Of course you prefer doing something you’ve been doing since you could walk. That’s quite rare in a career. Usually people work to have a career, but I’ve been doing this since I could walk. So definitely a different feeling.”

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Williams is still planning her future – her recent projects include a venture capital fund and her own makeup line – but admitted she misses tennis more than she expected.

“I How that I miss tennis,” she said. “I would hate to say, ‘Oh, I hated that so much.’ That would be so horrible and sad for me. Because tennis means so much to me. And to be honest, I didn’t realize that it meant so much to me. I didn’t realize that I would end up having such a great relationship with tennis. It’s a beautiful missing thing. It’s like nostalgia. I love that.”