Charges Puzzle Stevenson Friend

Brandis Braverman and Alexandra Stevenson have been friends and competitors since they were 8. They’ve had sleepovers as kids and they’ve been roommates as highly ranked juniors and lowly ranked professionals.

“I’m probably closer to her than anyone in tennis,” said Braverman, 19, of Newport Beach.

But Braverman was as shocked as everyone else in tennis when she learned Tuesday that Stevenson’s mother, Samantha, alleged that Alexandra had been the victim of racism and unwanted sexual advances on the Women’s Tennis Assn. Tour.

Stevenson, 18, a qualifier from San Diego, has reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon. Until a few months ago, Stevenson and Braverman were bouncing around the Midwest, playing Challenger tournaments.

“I thought, ‘Why is something negative being brought into this when it was such a great story?’ ” Braverman said. “She’s well deserving. I think her mother is distracting from the great thing Alexandra’s doing. If it’s something her mother really feels is a problem, she should address the tour, not use the press.”

Now, Stevenson is a celebrity because of her play and her mother, a freelance sports journalist for the New York Times. Braverman, ranked 342nd on the WTA computer, said she could not corroborate any of Samantha Stevenson’s accusations.

“I’ve been in plenty of locker rooms on tour and it seems a little extreme and farfetched that Alexandra would be approached by anyone with 30 or so players in the room,” said Braverman, who spent a year with Stevenson on the USTA junior national team. “First of all, she’s not very approachable. She’s a big, strong girl, who’s also strong-minded. I’d be more worried about [Anna] Kournikova being harassed than Alexandra. I just don’t think anyone’s going to be putting the moves on her.”

Braverman did not deny that there are lesbians on tour.

“It’s pretty well known around the tour who’s lesbian and who isn’t,” Braverman said. “We [straight players] do our own thing and they do theirs.”

Braverman, who last saw Stevenson at a Challenger tournament in Midland, Mich., said she wondered how Samantha Stevenson had access to the women’s locker room.

“Locker rooms are pretty much off limits to everybody except players and trainers,” she said. “That’s the one place that we can go to get away from everyone.”

Samantha Stevenson, who is white, also claimed that Alexandra, whose father is black, has been the victim of “subtle racism” by the WTA Tour and some of its players. If that has happened, Braverman said she has never seen it.

“I’ve never seen her have a problem with it now or in the juniors,” Braverman said. “She’s always been really accepted and well liked.”

But Braverman isn’t sure that will still be the case after her mother’s controversial statements.

“You can be sure other players aren’t going to really appreciate it,” Braverman said. “But Alexandra’s a tough girl. That’s why she’s gotten this far. It won’t affect her play. But it might fire up other players.”