Australian Open 2013: Serena Williams plays ruthless mentor to Sloane Stephens ahead of quarter-final I noticed Sloane at World Team Tennis [the US's domestic professional league] maybe four years ago. Not trying to be funny, as I tend to always make jokes, [but] I saw her in the locker room. She was another black girl. I was like: "Hey! What's up, girl?" " Asked if she would describe herself as a mentor to Stephens, Williams replied that "it's hard to be a real mentor when you're still in competition." But she added: "Definitely one of us will be in the semi-finals, which I think is awesome. We were in the locker room the other day. She said: "I grunt." I said: "No, you don't. You're so calm. I'm like loud and outrageous. She's incredibly calm. I think that's such a great thing to have. Like you look at some of the great players like Roger [Federer], he's so calm out there. That's what she has. And she's been doing really amazing. I'm really happy. Perhaps Williams may be a little too "loud and outrageous" for some people's tastes, but she is also a terrific example of what can be achieved through dedication and sheer bloody-mindedness. Even in Britain we see the Williams effect in action. On the boys" side, the Lawn Tennis Association's talent ID scheme is struggling to reach out to non-white players, with only eight per cent of the intake coming from ethnic minorities. Among the girls, though, the figure is 20 per cent. The value of positive role models is clear. Tennis still needs more non-white champions. Out of the top 100 singles player on both tours, there are only six black athletes - the Williams sisters, Stephens, Heather Watson, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gaël Monfils - which shows that progress is slow. Remember that Althea Gibson, the woman Serena Williams describes as her own role model, was winning grand slam titles in the 1950s. But with all those six players capable of winning titles, tennis should still have some high-profile standard-bearers when Williams finally retires. Not that that is likely to happen while she is beating everyone in sight.