‘I Was Called the N-word’- Venus Williams’ Best Friend Unfurls Personal Trauma After Coco Gauff’s Dubai Controversy

In the world of tennis where victories are celebrated and defeats are dissected, there are some instances that that go beyond the boundaries of the court. The same was the case with Alexandra Stevenson, the BFF of tennis icon Venus Williams. A player known for her resilience, Stevenson, in a recent podcast, took us on a journey while drawing parallels from what her friend Coco Gauff went through at the DDFT. It showed the typical challenges faced by some athletes.

Stevenson hints at a crucial moment in her career, a moment where she chose to stand up against an injustice that no athlete should tolerate at all. While she even took the help of the supervisors, she made sure that she reached an end with this.

In a recent revelation, Alexandra Stevenson, who is also the BFF of tennis icon Venus Williams, came ahead and opened up about a distressing part of her career. While reflecting on the recent buzz between Coco Gauff and the chair umpire, she walked us through an incident where she encountered the same.

Stevenson highlighted an incident where she had to go through a difficult moment, specifically dealing with the N-word. Stevenson, known for her strength on the court, shared that she rarely called for a tour supervisor who was typically brought in for significant events like injuries or medical timeouts. However, she felt compelled to do so when confronted with such incidents.

Okay, so as a player, you have the right to always ask for a supervisor, right? Supervisors come out a grand slams more than they do on the tour look on the tour, they come out during medical timeout, a serious injury or retirement, you’ll see the trainer with the tour supervisor because they’re supervising the time and everything. Yeah. I’ve asked for a tour supervisor only once in my career. And it was when I was called the N-word. And that was a serious situation,” said Stevenson in the podcast.

What makes this story more unsettling is that she had to go through this on a couple of occasions. However, on both occasions, when Stevenson sought help from umpires, they did not support her. This left her with no choice but to call for a tour supervisor herself.

It was in America, Indoor tournament and the umpire said that I was incorrect. And I said, Excuse me, I heard it. And not only that, I was called it. I was also called another word in a different language. That wasn’t very nice. Okay, actually, that’s happened to me twice. Once in the South that a tournament I got called the N word. And once indoors I got called the N word. And both times the umpires did not stand up for me, and I call the supervisor. Okay, so that’s a serious incident right?” Stevenson further continued in the interview.

In speaking out about these incidents, Stevenson talks about the importance of players standing up against racism in tennis. While the umpires did not stand for Stevenson, she had to ultimately seek help from the supervisors to make sure that justice was served to her.