Serena Williams had shown her sheer brilliance in the sports on 17th March when she defeated Sloane Stephens in the fourth round match at the BNP Paribas Open. In an interview after the match, Williams went on record to say that Stephens had it in her to become one of the best in the sports.
Stephens rose to fame when she defeated Serena Williams in the quarterfinal round of the 2013 Australian Open. It was a major breakthrough, and she got the attention of the world that season, going up to World 11. Williams went on to win their subsequent meetings, one on her way to winning the US Open.
Since then, 33-year-old Serena Williams have held on to her World No.1 ranking while Sloane Stephens is in the risk of slipping out of the Top 50. She has defeated Angelique Kerber and Svetlana Kuznetsova in her second and third round meets with them and seems to get some of her old form back.
Williams and Stephens’ personal issues had become a major scoop for tabloids ever since Sloane defeated her in 2013. Since then Sloane has gone public saying that Williams had un-followed her on Twitter and has been very cold and distant. When the interview came out, Sloane slammed the reporter claiming that these were all off records, but the reporter said that Sloane had said it was okay if she recorded these conversation pieces.
Serena Williams is making a comeback at the Paribas Open after a long time since the 2001 finals saw the huge crow jeering her every point. This time round, the response is very positive, but Williams looked drained out at times.
The Indian Wells crowd this time tried to remove all the scars from fourteen years ago, that were left on the Williams family’s memory. The standing ovation before Serena Williams’ first match against Monica Niculescu lasted more than an entire minute, and Williams looked thoroughly moved when the cameras zoomed in on her face.