Sloane Stephens says she wasn’t being serious when she told her coach that Serena Williams’ celebrations were bothering her during their Brisbane quarterfinal. After Serena won the first set in her 6-4, 6-3 victory over Stephens, the 19-year-old said with a laugh to her USTA coach Troy Han that Serena’s “C’mons” were “disrespectful.” Han also laughed and told Stephens that she was allowed to throw out a few “Cmon’s” herself.
“Friendly fire,” Stephens said afterward. Serena and Stephens have both said that they are friends.
“That’s something that him and I joke about a lot,” Stephens said. “It was kind of just to ease the tension a little bit. I mean, I don’t know what I looked like on the court, but I felt like I looked like a sour lemon, so I was like, Ah, I need to relax. No, it was just a joke. All fun.”