Redfoo returns! LMFAO rapper makes main-draw debut on ITF circuit

Party rock is in Sharm El-Sheikh tonight! LMFAO rapper Redfoo made an unexpected appearance at the lowest rungs of professional tennis this week: not as a spectator, but as a competitor.

The 49-year-old musician competed under his legal name, Stefan Gordy, as a main-draw wild card to one of the ubiquitous M15 events in the Egyptian city. He lost in the first round to a lucky loser from Norway, Leyton Rivera, in just 43 minutes. (A week prior, as a lower-key a wild card in the qualifying draw, he lost 6-0, 6-0.)

But the routing didn't dampen his spirit, as he wished Rivera the best in a post-match follow-up.

Prior to the match, the performer also excitedly wrote, “Going for it! #yala 🎾,” in an Instagram post.

Now, if you were in, around or watching tennis at the turn of the last decade, you may remember when the Party Rock Anthem singer was omnipresent on the professional tour.

A former junior peer of the Bryan brothers growing up in California before getting into music, Gordy famously dated former WTA world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, and was a fixture in her player box when she was at the top of the sport during their two-year relationship from 2012 to 2014.

He even mixed Azarenka's signature grunt into a song, aptly titled “Heart of a Champion.”

But that's not all: He was also the title sponsor of an ITF women's $50,000 event in Las Vegas back in 2012 and 2013, branded the Party Rock Open; dabbled in coaching with World Team Tennis’ Las Vegas Rollers as well as Japanese player Ayaka Okuno; and tried to win his way into the 2013 US Open by competing in the USTA's now-defunct US Open WIldcard Playoff in Northern California.

Last year, Gordy was back on the scene in Indian Wells and Miami supporting American Peyton Stearns, telling Baseline's Stephanie Livaudais in an exclusive interview that it was a "blast" to bring the "'Foo engery" to the former NCAA champion's team.

Read more: Catching up with Redfoo: Talking Timeball, supporting Peyton Stearns in Miami and more

Playing a pro tennis tournament is very different than watching one, sure—but Gordy's seemingly random appearance in the draw in Egypt wasn't the first time he tried to play a professional tennis event. Nine years ago in 2016, he lost a qualifying match at a Futures tournament in Fountain Valley, Calif. 6-0, 7-5, and played a main-draw doubles match at a different California Futures also that year.

Is this another one-off appearance, or will there be some celebratory "Champagne Showers" in the DJ's future on the tennis court?