Tennis has had some high profile rock and metal fans down the years. 80s legend John McEnroe namechecks Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones as two of his favourite bands, and has jammed onstage with Pearl Jam, among others. Fellow Wimbledon winner Pat Cash grew up listening to Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, forming his own pun-tastic band Full Metal Racket. Even modern tennis GOAT Roger Federer used to use Metallica and AC/DC to psyche himself up before he went on court.
You can add Venus and Serena Williams to that that list. The sisters – who have won an epic 30 grand slam titles between them – were recently spotted rocking out at an Alice In Chains gig at Florida.
AIC singer William DuVall posted a backstage photo of himself with Venus and Serana on Instagram.
“So honored to have the Williams sisters, @serenawilliams and @venuswilliams, attend our show in West Palm Beach,” wrote DuVall. “So great to see them rocking out down front and sidestage. Even better to find that they’re so cool and down to earth as people.
“Like meeting long lost cousins at a family gathering, only they just happen to be, in my opinion, the best to ever grace a tennis court, as well as being genuine AIC fans. Awesome night.”
Bassist Mike Inez posted his own photo of the pair: “Hot and sweaty, soaking, rock and roll gig in West Palm. Nothin’ for nothin’ I always have a great time in Florida. @venuswilliams stood in the front of us singing all the songs and @serenawilliams was on the side with my bass tech. Seemed like everyone needed to rock the fuck out after Hurricane Ian blew through.”
Alice In Chains aren’t the only rock band that Serena Williams loves. In 2021, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong revealed that Serena – the younger of the sisters – regularly showed up at the band’s gigs.
“We would run into her in different countries in Europe because she was kicking everybody’s ass in that particular country,” Armstrong told Jimmy Kimmel. “She would then come to the show and … Well, I think she would literally try to see how fast she could beat her opponent so she could actually come to the gig.”
He added that Williams’ was a fan of the song Disappearing Boy, a super-deep cut from their 1990 debut album 39/Smooth.
“She would end up showing up and would always ask us to play this song Disappearing Boy, which is a song we wrote years and years ago,” said Armstrong. “She’s great, one of the sweetest people.”
