Serena Williams wants you to dream crazier.
The athlete is the voice behind a new Nike commercial, narrating the powerful clip as footage of famous female athletes plays.
“If we show emotion, we’re called dramatic,” Williams narrates. As footage of 16-year-old female football player Sam Gordon airs, Williams says, “If we want to play against men, we’re nuts. And if we dream of equal opportunity, delusional.”
The 37-year-old continues, “When we stand for something, we’re unhinged. When we’re too good, there’s something wrong with us. And if we get angry, we’re hysterical, irrational or just being crazy.”
Clips of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, Olympian Caster Semenya, fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad and more play while the tennis star talks.
“But, a woman running a marathon was crazy,” the athlete narrates. “A woman boxing was crazy. A woman dunking: crazy. Coaching an NBA team: crazy. A woman competing in a hijab, changing her sport, landing a double cork 1080 or winning 23 grand slams, having a baby and coming back for more? Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy and crazy.”
She concludes, “So if they want to call you crazy? Fine, show them what crazy can do.”
Williams has frequently called out sexism in her sport and beyond.
Last year, after she lost at the U.S. Open to Naomi Osaka, Williams said in a press conference, “I’m here fighting for women’s rights and for women’s equality and for all kinds of stuff.”
Williams was fined $17,000 for three violations during the women’s singles final. The tournament referee’s office deducted $10,000 for verbally abusing the umpire, $4,000 for receiving a warning about coaching, and $3,000 for breaking a racket from Williams’ $1.85 million prize money, the Associated Press reported on Sunday.
“And for me to say ‘thief’ and for [the umpire] to take a game, it made me feel like it was a sexist remark,” Williams said at the time. “He’s never took a game from a man because they said ‘thief.’ For me it blows my mind. But I’m going to continue to fight for women and to fight for us to have equal [rights].”
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