Serena Williams was not friends with everyone on the WTA Tour in her 27-year playing career.
Williams had a fierce rivalry with Maria Sharapova over the years, which actually ended up being one-sided.
However, as a multiple-time Grand Slam champion, many American players idolised Williams as someone they wanted to be like.
That was even the case for Sloane Stephens, but her relationship with Williams quickly turned sour after playing at the 2013 Australian Open.
Sloane Stephens called out Serena Williams for her behaviour in 2013
At the 2012 US Open, Williams described Stephens as a beautiful tennis player, before going on to win the title.
This would likely have been music to the ears of Stephens, who had a poster of Williams on her bedroom wall when growing up.
It would be just four months until a 19-year-old Stephens played Williams for the first time, playing one another at the Brisbane International.
While many were excited for this match, the big talking point actually was a remark Stephens made about Williams shouting ‘Come on!’ after winning points.
Stephens was seen mouthing ‘disrespectful’ after Williams said this, but she later dismissed any drama and labelled it ‘friendly fire’.
However, it was not long until this fire would be lit once again, when Stephens made a breakthrough run to the Australian Open quarterfinals.
This is where she would play Williams once again, with Stephens coming from a set down to stun the then 15-time Grand Slam champion.
Stephens and Williams shook hands after the match, and it appeared that all was well until a social media post was made two days later.
In this post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Williams wrote, “I made you,” with many tennis fans believing this to be targeted at Stephens.
The drama between Stephens and Williams was heightened even further when the former conducted an interview with ESPN Magazine just a few months later.
In this interview, Stephens called out Williams for her behaviour towards her ever since their match at the 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,” said Stephens. “And that should tell everyone something, how she went from saying all these nice things about me to unfollowing me on Twitter.
“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?”
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It was not long until Stephens and Williams would cross paths again, facing off at the US Open in 2013.
Williams would enact revenge over her younger compatriot, with a comfortable straight sets victory over Stephens.
This set the tone for the rest of their rivalry, as Stephens’ Australian Open victory over Williams was the only time she ever won in their seven encounters.
| Year | Tournament | Result |
| 2013 | Brisbane International (QF) | Williams beat Stephens, 6-4 6-3 |
| 2013 | Australian Open (QF) | Stephens beat Williams, 3-6 7-5 6-4 |
| 2013 | US Open (R16) | Williams beat Stephens, 6-4 6-1 |
| 2015 | Indian Wells (R16) | Williams beat Stephens, 6(3)-7 6-2 6-2 |
| 2015 | Madrid Open (R16) | Williams beat Stephens, 6-4 6-0 |
| 2015 | French Open (R16) | Williams beat Stephens, 1-6 7-5 6-3 |
| 2020 | US Open (R32) | Williams beat Stephens, 2-6 6-2 6-2 |
While no comments have been made quite to the same tone as Stephens’ in her interview after the Australian Open, there did not appear to be much of a friendship between the two.
Ahead of their meeting at Indian Wells in 2015, Stephens called Williams ‘a colleague’ when asked about their relationship in her press conference.
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Former US Open champion Stephens also distanced herself from Williams comparisons when speaking to Essence Magazine in 2019.
“Just because Serena has been great and done all the things she’s done, that has nothing to do with me,” said Stephens. “I’m my own person. I’ve done what I’ve done. I’m proud of my accomplishments.
“I’m trying to do this in this lane, and it has nothing to do with her. Whatever she does is amazing. She’s done so much for the sport.”
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