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Friday, March 29, 2024

Sloane Stephens recalls winning US Open two months after returning from surgery

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Former world No. 3 Sloane Stephens admitted she didn’t really expect to win the US Open in 2017 but it happened and now she is a Grand Slam champion. Stephens, 29, missed the entire first half of the 2017 season due to a foot surgery as she started her season in July at Wimbledon.

Two months after kicking off her season, Stephens put up her career-best Grand Slam run at the US Open to win her first and lone Grand Slam title. “When I was working my way back at Wimbledon following my foot surgery, my goal wasn’t to win the US Open eight weeks later like I ended up doing.

My focus was on making incremental progress each day and truly enjoying the process since it could’ve all gone away forever. That joy and gratitude for being back on tour helped me to play freely,” Stephens told ESSENCE.

Stephens: I’m more than a tennis player

In the past, Stephens used to define herself by her tennis success and ranking. Now, Stephens’ perspective has changed as she thinks her personality is the key thing that should be looked at when defining who she is as a person.

“For a period of time, I defined myself as “Sloane the tennis player ranked x,”’ Stephens admitted. “However, I’ve grown to value myself as Sloane the person and playing tennis as my job. There are multiple facets to my identity, and my ranking is not an accurate or holistic representation of who I am as a person.”

Stephens is now the 52nd-ranked player in the world but she won Guadalajara this year and also reached the French Open quarterfinal. Even though Stephens is seemingly past her prime, she is always believing that the best is yet to come.

“I always believe that my best is yet to come, and I work hard each day with that belief in mind, so I no longer allow myself to stress over my ranking at any point in time,” Stephens added.

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