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Justin Bieber may have spent the past year making headlines for his music, but over the weekend, the SWAG singer proved he can hold his own in the sports realm too.
The pop star emerged victorious at the Fanatics Games during Fanatics Fest in New York, beating a roster of elite athletes, including retired NFL star Tom Brady, tennis champ Novak Djokovic and NBA stars Victor Wembanyama and Karl-Anthony Towns, before donating his $1 million prize.
The competition — featured in Fanatics Fest: All Access, now streaming on ESPN — saw Bieber face off against an all-star lineup that also included Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles, former NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski and former LSU gymnast and influencer Livvy Dunne.
Audiences highlight the moment that Bieber challenged the Serbian professional tennis player Djokovic to a bonus game of ping-pong. Before the match, the singer confidently declared, “I am a superior ping-pong player. He knows it.”
Djokovic, however, ended up getting the last laugh.
“I must say, I underestimated Justin’s athletic abilities,” the 24-time Grand Slam winner said before defeating Bieber at the table. Taking the loss like a champion, the “Daisies” singer responded, “He got me today, so I gotta give him his flowers.”
Though he fell short at ping-pong, Bieber did ultimately claim the biggest win of the weekend, topping the overall Fanatics Games leaderboard to earn the competition’s $1 million grand prize.
Instead of taking home those winnings, Bieber decided to split the prize among fans and charity. He awarded $500,000 to the event’s 50 fan competitors, giving each participant $10,000 and donating the remaining $500,000 to charity.
“Only at Fanatics Fest do people come together in this way,” Bieber says in Fanatics Fest: All Access.
The special is now streaming on the ESPN app, and the trailer can be watched below.
