Serena Shouldn't Have To Mentor Sloane While Still Competing

The issue of racial diversity in sports and in general is a detailed topic that will not be resolved in a single blog post. This is not about blacks in tennis or even women in tennis but about the relationship between two people: Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens.

Recently, there seemed to be a beef between tennis great Williams (who is my absolute FAV) and an up-and-coming tennis start Stephens.

In a recent interview with ESPN the Magazine, Stephens spoke out about the status of their relationship: “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 quickly back-pedaled in the days following her statements, saying on Twitter that they had spoken to each other and resolved whatever issue there was. Both of their camps must have gotten together and decided that the negative publicity was unwanted.

I interviewed her for the November 2012 issue of Sista's Keeper Magazine & she said that her and Serena had a "great relationship". She must have been hurt after meeting her idol and beginning this great friendship that seems to have waned recently after a few unanswered phone calls, text messages and BBM's. However, Sloane may have gotten a little too comfortable with their relationship and forgot that Serena is still competing and might just be busy or not in the mood to "girl talk".

Serena is the ULTIMATE competitor so I could see her getting a little salty after Sloane made a name for herself by beating her at January's Australian Open. She sent out a seemingly-cryptic subtweet after that match, starting simply "I made you."

However, the tennis season was in FULL swing  at the time and I can understand if Serena has her game face on. She just got beat by a lesser-ranked player after the AMAZING year that she had last year.

I don't think that Serena was willing to be a mentor at the time and give Sloane a "how-to" guide on beating her and she may not have wanted to engage in deep conversations for the sake of focusing on competing...just "hi" and "bye".

My take is this: both of them are wrong in this. Stephens got in her feelings after not hearing from Serena for a while and Williams saw all of the attention that Sloane was getting from winning their match and she thought that people were trying to replace her.

While it would be great if Serena takes on a mentor role with Sloane, people have to realize that Serena is STILL NUMBER 1! She is still playing, still a contender if not front-runner in ANY tournament or Grand Slam that she is entered. If Serena were retired or on another extended break from tennis, then YES she should serve as a mentor to Sloane. That may come later, but not now because they are still competitors.