Who got served?
Last week, young up-and-coming tennis star Sloane Stephens came at Serena Williams through the pages of ESPN the Magazine. Stephens, whose shocking defeat of Williams at the Australian Open quarterfinals in January had many people calling Stephens the next Serena, said that she and Williams weren't besties the way many thought they were.
From Tennis.com:
"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 in a interview that was conducted prior to the U.S. Fed Cup win over Sweden last month, when both were on the team. "And that should tell everyone something, how she went from saying all these nice things about me to unfollowing me on Twitter."
But Stephens has since changed her tune. Tennis.com is reporting in a separate story that Williams has no beef with her fellow competitor.
"I'm a big Sloane Stephens fan and always have been," Serena told reporters in Madrid. "I've always said that I think she can be the best in the world. I'll always continue to think that and always be rooting for her. So I really just always wish her — and anyone, really, especially from America the best. We don't have that many American players, so it's always exciting to see so many young players doing so well."
A couple of hours after Serena said that, Stephens tweeted: Guilty of being naive. Much respect 4 @serenawilliams , a champ & the GOAT. We spoke, we're good. ONWARD! #lifelessons
In tennis, this is what we call love.
Read more at Tennis.com.
Jozen Cummings is the author and creator of the popular relationship blog Until I Get Married, which is currently in development for a television series with Warner Bros. He also hosts a weekly podcast with WNYC about Empire called Empire Afterparty, is a contributor at VerySmartBrothas.com and works at Twitter as an editorial curator. Follow him on Twitter.