Up-and-coming American tennis player Sloane Stephens, 19, is already unimpressed by our lazy comparisons to Serena Williams. “Journalists just ask me that in press conferences when they’re not sure where to start,” Stephens told the Daily Beast. “It always happens.”
Like Williams, Stephens is an “African-American beauty with chiseled biceps and a solid game,” as the Daily Beast put it. This caused Williams to do a double-take once — “I saw her in the locker room. She was another black girl. I was like, ‘Hey!’ That’s when I first noticed her. ‘What up, girl?’” — but the similarities basically stop there. The Beast reports that Williams and Stephens have different backgrounds, playing styles, and temperaments. Now that Stephens has upset Williams in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, however, she might need to get used to it.
Luckily, Stephens is capable of holding forth on many alternative topics. She told The Wall Street Journal that she will spend her prize money on a pair of Jimmy Choos but that the rest is going in the bank. Her off-court ambitions are to be invited to the White House Easter Egg Roll, join Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative, feature in a song by either Lil Wayne or Nicki Minaj, guest-star on Scandal, and endorse Rolex or Ford. Agents, to your phones.
