Serena Williams has explained how her surprise Super Bowl performance came to be.

Serena Williams shared the behind-the-scenes of her Super Bowl cameo (Image: Instagram @serenawilliams)

Serena Williams has opened up on the phone call she received from Kendrick Lamar inviting her to be part of his Super Bowl half-time show performance.

Lamar promised a surprise at his show and he delivered. The 23-time Grand Slam champion made a cameo, crip walking while Lamar performed Not Like Us, his Drake diss track.

Williams famously dated Drake a decade ago, and Lamar even has a lyric dedicated to the tennis star in his diss track.

Williams has plenty of experience competing on the biggest stadiums in tennis but the retired champion got the chance to take centre stage for a few seconds at the Super Bowl.

As Lamar got to the most highly-anticipated part of his half-time show – rapping Not Like Us despite concerns that Drake could take legal action – cameras panned to the former world No. 1 as she performed the crip walk dance, staring into the camera.

The internet went crazy for Williams’ appearance. It wasn’t lost on fans that she reportedly dated Drake in 2011 and again in 2015.

And there was another meaning behind her performance. The American famously crip walked on Wimbledon’s Centre Court after winning a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics and received some backlash.

Serena Williams crip walked during Not Like Us at the half-time show (Image: Getty)

However, her moves caught Lamar’s attention and Williams believes her actions “paid off”. The 43-year-old took to Instagram to share some behind-the-scenes footage from her cheeky cameo and explained how her appearance came to be.

“When @kendricklamar and team called and was like ‘we’ve been trying to do something forever, what about this? We loved your crip walk at the Olympics after you won the gold medal’,” she wrote.

“I’m like Super Bowl? Are you serious? When in the world would I ever be able to dance at a superbowl? (Never) let’s do it!

“I knew my winning dance after the @olympics would pay off one day. End of story.”

It was a fitting collaboration between the pair. In Not Like Us, Lamar calls Drake out for making not-so-subtle references to his history with Williams in his songs with the line: “Better not speak on Serena.”

The retired tennis ace has never directly addressed Drake or his lyrics about her, but she has been making the most of her Super Bowl surprise.

“That was the best 10 seconds of my life!” Williams exclaimed in the backstage video. “I can’t let that 15 seconds of fame go, I’ve got to be famous for something.”

After leaving the stage on Sunday, she shared another video and joked: “Oh, I did not Crip Walk like that at Wimbledon. I would have been fiiinnneeed!”