By Chris Oddo | Tuesday August 8, 2017
It’s been a stunning resurgence from American Sloane Stephens. Just six months ago she was spending her time with her left foot in a walking boot, interviewing the tour’s top players for Tennis Channel as a part of the network’s Indian Wells coverage.
Social Daily, Day 1: Sharapova's Jubilation, Crazy Fed Fans and More
What a difference six months makes.
These days a refreshed Stephens is back on the tour, racking up wins like they’re going out of style.
She has won nine out of 11 matches on the North American hardcourts, reaching back-to-back semifinals in Toronto and Cincinnati, and three of her wins have come against Top 20 players.
Stephens appears to have picked up where she left off last season. The American won three titles (tripling her previous career total) in 2016 before succumbing to injury before the U.S. Open. After nearly a year off the competitive court, she has returned to tennis with a vengeance.
Stephens says that stepping away from the tour for a bit due to the foot injury that eventually led to surgery this winter, has actually helped her gain a sense of perspective.
“I think when you play week in and week out, a couple years in a row, there's a lot of ups and downs, I think it can wear you out a bit,” she said after taking out former U.S. Open runner-up Roberta Vinci in round one on Monday in New York. “I obviously wasn't happy to get injured. That's not anything that I ever wanted. But it was a good lesson for me. It was a good time to be able to take a break, get my health in order, then just kind of reevaluate my whole entire situation, come back a better player and better person.”
The former World No.11 has long been considered a potential star of the game. She broke out in a big way in 2013 when she knocked off Serena Williams in the Australian Open quarterfinals en route to her first and only Grand Slam semifinal, but has struggled to reproduce that magic. Stephens reached the second week of all four majors in 2013, but since then she has only made week two at a Slam three times, and never gone beyond.
But with coach Kamau Murray guiding her, and a new lease on life after a debilitating injury, Stephens seems poised to reconnect with the promise that characterized her game when she burst onto the scene.
Even better, she’s playing with low expectations, embracing the process and staying loose. “I just was happy to be on the court the last couple of weeks, just enjoying playing,” she said on Monday. “Happy to be injury-free and pain-free, all that good stuff. I didn't really have any expectations coming back. I just wanted to play again. I've exceeded everything that I thought I would.”
Stephens will face No.11-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the second round.