Serena Williams is serving up empowerment as the new global ambassador for female-centric dating app Bumble.
The tennis champ will star in the spot called “The Ball Is In Her Court”, which will debut during the first half of the Super Bowl on February 3, and Bumble has now released the full 60-second spot online a few days early.
“The world tells you to wait,” Williams says in the ad. “That waiting is polite, and good things will just come. But if I waited to be invited in, I never would have stood out. If I waited for change to happen, I never would have made a difference.”
Williams’ words play over images of her working on her fashion label and heading out on the tennis court, intercut with a young girl taking her step onto the court.
“So make the first move,” Williams says. “Don’t wait to be told your place. Take it.”
In a statement about the ad, the tennis star said, “At such a pivotal time for women across the globe, this commercial seeks to inspire all of us to seize opportunity wherever it presents itself.”
She added. “I want women to feel empowered to find their voice and use the power within to create change, to lift each other up, and to never let the world tell us we can’t – because we can, and we will.”
Earlier this month, Bumble teased the ad by released a clip of Williams on set discussing her mission.
“It’s time to really show up and tell our story the way it should be told,” Williams says from the set of the ad that was created by a predominantly female team. Last year, women were behind only four Super Bowl commercials compared to 42 male-directed spots.
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The ad, marks Bumble’s first Super Bowl spot, will chronicle the rise of Williams — not just as an athlete but as an entrepreneur, role model, wife, and mother.
“We’re living in a world and society where people are starting to see differently and starting to understand that we are just as strong and just as smart and just as savvy and just as businesslike as any other male in this world,” Williams says in the 30-second teaser.
