Stephens Takes Issue With Williams

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 7th May 2013

Sony Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Florida

Stephens Takes Issue With Williams

epa03640565 Sloane Stephens of the US returns the ball to Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland during their fourth round match at the Sony Open tennis tournament in Miami, Florida, USA, 25 March 2013. The tournament runs through 31 March. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER |

Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens have a curious history together, with both telling different stories about when they first met. The elder American says that the first time she met Stephens was at World TeamTennis about four years ago.

“I saw her in the locker room,” Serena said. “She was another black girl. I was like, Hey! That’s when I first noticed her ‘What’s up, girl?”

Stephens tells another tale entirely and in this week’s issue of ESPN The Magazine, she ripped into Serena, saying that Williams isn’t whom she appears to be and they haven’t spoken since Stephens upset her in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Australian Open.

“She’s not said one word to me, not spoken to me, not said hi, not looked my way, not been in the same room with me since I played her in Australia,” Stephens said. “And that should tell everyone something, how she went from saying all these nice things about me to unfollowing me on Twitter.”

Stephens said that occurred after she took down the mighty Williams in Australia and she alleged –which Serena has not confirmed” that when Williams tweeted “I made you,” that she was directing it at Sloane.

“Like, seriously! People should know. They think she’s so friendly and she’s so this and she’s so that — no, that’s not reality! You don’t unfollow someone on Twitter, delete them off of BlackBerry Messenger. I mean, what for? Why?”

Interestingly, Serena has nothing but praise for Stephens when asked about her in public forums.

“She’s doing great. I think she has a great chance to win her next round. She’s playing really well. I practice next to her a lot in L.A. and I watch her a lot because I’m actually a Sloane fan.”

Stephens also said that because the Williams sisters once didn’t sign a poster for her that she decided to become a Kim Clijsters fan instead.

But in early January, Stephens had nothing but kind words for her.

“She’s so sweet,” Stephens. “No, I love her. Obviously she’s been a really great influence in my tennis year career…. Obviously I always was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I love her to death. She’s amazing, whatever. Now she’s like an actual person and I’m like, Oh, hi. How is it going? She’s not like a hero anymore. She’s just a friend.”

“For the first 16 years of my life, she said one word to me and was never involved in my tennis whatsoever,” Stephens said. “I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal that she’s not involved now. If you mentor someone, that means you speak to them, that means you help them, that means you know about their life, that means you care about them. Are any of those things true at this moment? No, so therefore…”

But Williams has consistently said that while she was willing to give Stephens advice if asked, that it would be impossible if they were facing off.

“It’s hard to be a real mentor when you’re still in competition,” Williams said prior her loss to Stephens at the Australian Open. “But I’m here to compete and do the best I can, as well as her. And she’s been doing really amazing. I’m really happy for her.”

Serena is aware of the article but has yet to respond to it. Stephens lost in the first round of this week’s tournament in Madrid, while Serena won her first round match on Sunday.