Sloane Stephens Gears Up To Defend Her Title

In the twelve months since her unexpected breakthrough at Flushing Meadows, Sloane Stephens has revealed plenty about herself, with plenty of drama along the way

- Stephen Tignor

Winning a Grand Slam, everyone just expects you to win every tournament after that,” Sloane Stephens told NBC Sports this spring, with her customary mix of blithe irony and disarming honesty. “I did the complete opposite. I literally lost like eight matches in a row or something crazy like that.”

By now, doing the “complete opposite” of what champions are supposed to do has become second nature for Stephens. At 19, in 2013, she beat Serena Williams on her way to the Australian Open semifinals, rose to No. 12 in the world rankings, and was widely proclaimed to be the future of U.S. tennis. Instead of riding that wave to the top, though, Stephens was engulfed by the expectations it created. She spent most the next three years outside the Top 20, and failed to reach another Grand Slam semifinal until 2017.

Stephens finally fulfilled those expectations—and went beyond what most people thought was possible—by winning the US Open last year. But her path to sudden success was just as surprising and unconventional as her retreat had been. After undergoing foot surgery and being sidelined for 11 months, she began the summer hard-court swing ranked No. 957. Four tournaments later, she had won her first major title and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

“There’s no pressure on me,” Stephens said in the middle of her meteoric rise. “I’m just going and having fun. I think most of it is I’m so excited to be on the court and to be able to play again, that I kind of have, like, a little extra oomph.”