Serena Williams speaks about special Lewis Hamilton relationship: 'I felt like we had to meet'

Former tennis superstar Serena Williams has taken to Instagram to reveal quite how far back her friendship with seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton goes.

Hamilton is the most successful driver in F1 history, while Williams is the third-most successful tennis player of all-time, having racked up an astonishing 23 Grand Slam titles across her career.

Williams retired in 2022, and sits third on the all-time list of Grand Slam champions, behind only Novak Djokovic and Margaret Court.

She spent a whopping 319 weeks of her career as the world number one, and finished five separate years as the year-end number one.

Now, the American has revealed that she has been friends with Hamilton since the days of her and her sister Venus' various battles for Grand Slam titles. The sisters met in nine major finals, including the 2008 Wimbledon final, one of the greatest matches of all time.

That year was the same year that Hamilton wrapped up his maiden championship win, and in an Instagram post, Williams has revealed that this was around the time that her and Hamilton sparked a friendship.

"I had fun hanging out with the Ferrari drivers," Williams told her followers after being at the Miami Grand Prix. "I remember wanting to meet Lewis Hamilton because he was this amazing Black driver winning in England at the same time that Venus Williams or I were winning at Wimbledon. I felt like we had to meet.

"We did, and from then on, whenever we both won (which was a lot), we celebrated together. Over a decade later, we’re still very close. That’s my bro."

READ MORE: Hamilton scares F1 rival after Miami GP following rude gesture

Hamilton's legacy transcends sport

Hamilton is the joint record holder for the number of drivers' championship titles in F1 with seven - tied with Michael Schumacher.

But he leads Schumacher in the all-time lists of race victories, pole positions and podiums, and will go down as the most successful racer in history no matter how his Ferrari career pans out from here.

Hamilton's legacy, however, stretches beyond sport, with the seven-time champion also involved in several charitable ventures.

In 2021, Hamilton created Mission 44, an organisation which focuses on helping underrepresented young people in the UK to thrive in education and go on to careers within STEM.

He has been vocal about wanting to improve diversity within F1 teams, and his work with Mission 44 also led to him meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer last year, speaking with the Labour politician about how education can be improved to help children to thrive.

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