17 after the tournament. Varvara Gracheva ousted Sloane Stephens in their quarter-final match at the ATX Open on Friday. 200711: Tour debut, entering the top 100, 2013: Major semifinal, Serena upset, world No. Also, I like listening to Depeche Mode and walking my dog. 802, she finished the 2010 season just inside the top 200 at No. Here are the individuals that have contributed to her growth.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'thetennistime_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_4',152,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-thetennistime_com-medrectangle-4-0'); Sloanes first coach was an ex-top 50 tennis player, Francisco Gonzalez, who instructed her at the Sierra Sport and Racquet Club. [85][86] She entered the Australian Open unseeded and faced a difficult draw against Victoria Azarenka in the first round. 109, Melinda Czink, while still only 15 years old, but was unable to advance to the main draw in any of these appearances. [45][67][75], Stephens began 2014 at the Hopman Cup with John Isner. [23] Mladenovic ended up winning the tournament, and would also defeat Stephens in their next encounter at the Wimbledon quarterfinals. 4 in the world, making her the first American woman other than the Williams sisters to be ranked in the top 5 in singles since Lindsay Davenport in 2006. Stephens was defeated by a top ten player in both semifinals, No. 12 and was one of only three players to make it to the second week of all four Grand Slam tournaments in 2013, along with Williams and Agnieszka Radwaska. [3] In March 2010, Stephens qualified for the Indian Wells Open to make her WTA debut a week before turning 17. Sloane Stephens headlines Chicago's expansion World TeamTennis The two have reuinted this year. Stephens moved to Florida to train at a tennis academy, ultimately working with Nick Saviano. [56] This string of performances brought her into the top 50 of the WTA rankings for the first time. Francisco was an ex-Paraguay tennis player who retired in 1990 after claiming 10 Doubles and no Singles. Gracheva won 7-6 (4), 6-3 in an hour and 51 minutes against . Sloane Stephens is a long-time Rafa Nadal fan. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Due to a rain suspension, she was forced to play the end of her semifinal match against No. [192] In November, she played for the U.S. team at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. 96, Johanna Larsson, while committing 63 unforced errors. [267] At the start of 2015, she returned to her longtime junior coach, Nick Saviano. Chris Evert was a top ex-tennis player with an incredible record of 89.97% (1309-146) in the Singles (second highest in the history of male and female tennis). "Looking back on it now, I should have asked to. Williams entered the semifinal on a 20 match win streak, while multiple betting websites listed the 19-year-old Stephens as at least an 11-to-1 underdog. Emma Hruby Mar 11, 2022. [91] Having struggled at the last three Grand Slam events, Stephens managed to upset world No. [134][225] They have also both been labelled as leaders of the next generation of American women's tennis. Because Halep has dominated their matches, Stephens has downplayed their rivalry, saying, "It's not a rivalry if you don't beat the person. Stephens had frequently been regarded as a potential successor to Serena Williams to become the next top American women's tennis player, if not the best in the world. She lost to the eventual champion Marion Bartoli. Stephens also is a proficient server: she can hit first serves as fast as 110115 miles per hour and is capable of employing both first and second serves with a flat, sliced, or kick serve approach. 13 Ana Ivanovic after struggling with a torn abdominal muscle, which was initially injured during her fourth-round loss at the French Open a few months earlier. [200] At the Indian Wells Open, she fell in the first round to 2018 champion Naomi Osaka. She upset eighth seed, world No. She is enshrined in the Boston University Athletic Hall of Fame and recognized as the greatest swimmer in the history of the university. Nadal's former coach Roig to work with American Stephens 10, Karolna Plkov, in the second round. View. Sloane Stephens had to think outside of the box when it came to staying competition-ready throughout the coronavirus pandemic . [67][76] She finished the year at world No. 3 Garbie Muguruza, and No. [184] She was defeated in the third round by Liudmila Samsonova in three sets. Stephens did not talk with her biological father until she was 13 years old, when he expressed interest in getting to know her after being diagnosed with degenerative bone disease. [245] Stephens then won their next two meetings in early 2013, including a first round match at the Australian Open as part of her breakthrough semifinal run at the event. [284] She was also a brand ambassador for USANA, a nutrition company. [183], Ranked 73 at Wimbledon, Stephens upset tenth seed and two-time champion, Petra Kvitov, in the first round. [65] Although Stephens would lose her next match to world No. [125][126], After the US Open, Stephens did not win another match the rest of the season. 3, Aryna Sabalenka. She won her first professional singles title at the Camparini Gioielli Cup, a $50K event in Italy. [18] Her first breakthrough result came at the US Open in 2008, where she reached her first doubles final at a Grand Slam with Mallory Burdette. I am so honored to be featured among this amazing group on this year's Create & Cultivate 100 List in the Sports category! [291][13][292], Stephens has been married to United States national soccer team player Jozy Altidore, who was also one of her childhood friends in Florida, since 1 January 2022. She attended several WTA events in the United States including Indian Wells, the Miami, and Charleston, where she interviewed fellow tennis players and also provided analysis. Her mother was the first African-American woman to be named a first-team All-American swimmer in Division I history. [11] She started playing tennis at the age of nine at the Sierra Sport and Racquet Club, a tennis facility located across the street from her house where her stepfather regularly played and her mother was taking lessons. [73] She lost in the next round to No. [205] Seeded sixth at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, she was stunned in the first round by world No. Sloane Stephens reunites with coach Kamau Murray ahead of U.S. Open 17, Caroline Wozniacki, as well as the entire final against Julia Grges on the same day to claim the title. In the opening round, she defeated Rka Luca Jani for her first Grand Slam tournament match win. [15], After her stepfather's death, Stephens and her family moved back to their hometown of Fresno where her grandparents and other members of her mother's family still lived. Sloane Stephens' Coach on 'Creative' Ways They Kept Up Her Training Regimen amid Pandemic Still, she says, "The pandemic has taught me to focus more on what I can control and less on what I cannot. Sloane Stephens Brother, Sister And Coach Name - Instagram Photos 33 Julia Grges to advance to her first US Open quarterfinal and her first major quarterfinal since Wimbledon in 2013. Sloane Stephens 2021 - Net Worth, Salary and Endorsements Stephens also earned acareer-high rank of No. [42][17] Her only other WTA Tour win that year came at the Swedish Open in July. [150][151] She also reached the third round at Wimbledon, despite having lost her previous two opening round matches there. For longtime friends Sloane Stephens and Coco Gauff, US Open faceoff 5 in the world. Their relationship ended in 2012; David Nainkin. Her second title of the year also came on hardcourt at the Mexican Open. Sloane Stephens splits with coach Paul Annacone - USA TODAY [158] This was her first loss to a player outside the top 200 since 2011. [72] The highlight of her clay-court season in the lead up to the French Open was the Fed Cup semifinals on the road against France, where she won both of her singles rubbers over Pauline Parmentier and Kristina Mladenovic to lead the United States to a 32 victory. 83 in the world, and still needed to use a protected ranking to be accepted into the main draw due to the entry deadline being over a month before the event. Back home at the Citi Open, Sloane Stephens's hitting partner is Mental Health Is on Sloane Stephens's Mind, Too - The New York Times Entering the Miami Open Sloane Stephens had lost eight of nine matches and hadn't won consecutive matches since the US Open in September. From there, she continued her training in Boca Raton, where she trained at Evert Tennis Academy before she made her way to Nick Saviano High-Performance Tennis Academy at 12. She has cited her grandfather as her hero and one of her biggest influences growing up. [123][124] She also became the lowest-ranked US Open champion ever, and the fifth-lowest at any Grand Slam tournament. He has won a total of 38 ITF titles, including 16 Singles and 22 Doubles. ", "Stephens Falls to Fellow American Davis in Auckland", "Heather Watson upsets Sloane Stephens 63, 61 at Hobart International", "Australian Open 2015: Sloane Stephens stalls as Victoria Azarenka looks her challenge in the eyes", "Sloane Stephens tops Madison Keys at Miami Open in 'next-generation' match", "Simona Halep gets past Sloane Stephens to reach Miami Open semi-finals", "French Open: Sloane Stephens defeats Venus Williams as it happened", "Serena Williams beats Sloane Stephens to reach French Open last eight", "WTA Eastbourne: Sloane Stephens En Huitime De Finale", "CoCo Vandeweghe overpowering at Wimbledon, pushes into round of 16", "Sloane Stephens wins Citi Open for first WTA title", "CoCo Vandeweghe grants on-court interview during changeover", "Simona Halep will try to break through vs. Sloane Stephens, who knows the feeling", "Sloane Stephens beats Julia Goerges in ASB Classic final", "Kerber Retires With Illness In Charleston, But Take Nothing Away From Stephens", "Stephens wins Third Tournament of 2016 in Charleston", "For at least one post-match embrace Sunday at Wimbledon, 'quality was good', "Sloane Stephens exits, again, in Australian Open 1st round", "Bouchard beats Stephens in Olympic debut at Rio 2016", "Coping With Injury: Inside the Mind of Pro Tennis Player Sloane Stephens", "How Sloane Stephens's Tennis Channel Gig Helped her During Injury Recovery", "After long layoff, Sloane Stephens sees some positives in Wimbledon loss", "No.