Sloane Stephens

Personal life

Stephens was born in Plantation, Florida, to Sybil Smith (who, in 1988 as a swimmer at Boston University, became the first African-American female to be named First Team All-American in Division I history) and John Stephens, a professional American football player. John Stephens was killed in a car accident on September 1, 2009, just before the start of the US Open. Sloane Stephens attended her father's funeral in Louisiana, but she remained entered in the US Open. Her younger brother, Shawn Farrell, plays baseball and football at Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles.

She started playing tennis at the age of nine, at the Sierra Sport and Racquet Club, in Fresno, California, where her mother and stepfather introduced her to the sport. Two years later Stephens relocated from Fresno to Boca Raton, Florida, where she began training at the prestigious Evert Tennis Academy. A year later at the age of 12, Stephens stepped up her training once again by joining the Nick Saviano High Performance Tennis Academy, and switching to online-based home-schooling, which allowed her to maximize her time spent on the court. She graduated from high school in 2011. Stephens currently splits time between her home in Florida and Los Angeles, where she trains at the USTA training center at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. She stated that her favorite surface is clay when she entered the 2012 Wimbledon Championships.

She has cited Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams and Serena Williams as her main inspirations in tennis. She also cited her grandfather as her biggest influence growing up.

Stephens is dating United States soccer player Jozy Altidore.

Junior tennis

Stephens had a breakthrough year in 2008, when she finished the US Open Junior doubles as runner-up alongside partner Mallory Burdette. Later at the Grade A Orange Bowl, she made it to the semifinals as a wildcard, before losing in three sets to compatriot Christina McHale.

Stephens continued her form in 2009, capturing the singles and doubles titles at Grade 1 USTA International Spring Championships (partnering Mallory Burdette). She then traveled to Italy, where she captured the Grade A Italian Open singles title. The following week, she participated in her first overseas junior Grand Slam, the French Open. As a qualifier, Stephens reached the semifinals, before losing to eventual champion Kristina Mladenovic.

The following month, she reached the quarterfinals at the junior Wimbledon, before losing again to Mladenovic. Stephens reached a career-high junior ranking of world No. 5 on August 10, 2009.

Seeded fourth at the junior US Open, she lost in three sets to 14th seed Jana Čepelová in the third round.

At the 2010 Junior Wimbledon Championship, she made it to the quarterfinals of the singles and won the doubles title with Tímea Babos, winning a tough three-setter in the final.

2007–2009: Professional tour debut

Stephens played her first professional events on the ITF Circuit in late 2007. In spring 2008, she received a wildcard into her first WTA event, the Sony Ericssson Open in Miami, but lost to Ekaterina Bychkova in the first round. During the summer, she won a small ITF doubles tournament with partner Christina McHale. She received a wildcard into the US Open qualifying rounds, where she defeated seventh-seeded Melinda Czink, but then lost in straight sets to Stefanie Vögele.

In 2009, Stephens began the year playing several ITF tournaments with moderate success. She received another qualifying wildcard into the Sony Ericsson Open, losing in the first round to Akgul Amanmuradova. In the summer, she received another qualifying wildcard into a WTA tournament: the LA Women's Tennis Championships. There, Stephens won her first WTA match against Lenka Wienerová, but fell in the second round of qualifying to Anastasia Rodionova.

During the summer, she played World Team Tennis for the New York Buzz. Stephens' last professional tournament of the 2009 season was the US Open, where she received a qualifying wildcard for the second year in a row. Stephens lost in the first round of qualifying. In October, Stephens turned professional when she signed with BEST.

2010–2011: Entering the top 100

Stephens qualified for the 2010 BNP Paribas Open, where she defeated Lucie Hradecká in the first round. She then lost against the defending champion, 12th-seeded Vera Zvonareva. She made another run at the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, where she defeated fellow American Jamie Hampton in the first round. In the second round, she lost to world No. 1, and eventual champion, Caroline Wozniacki. The next week, as a wildcard entry, she won both matches at the qualifying stage of the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open to qualify for a spot in the main draw. In May 2011, Stephens won the $50,000 2011 Camparini Gioielli Cup. It was her first tournament win on the ITF circuit. Stephens then participated in the qualifying draw of the French Open as the 21st seed. She beat Anastasia Pivovarova in the qualifying competition to qualify for the main draw event. She lost to Elena Baltacha in the first round.

At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Stephens was the 12th seed in qualifying. She lost in the second round to Nina Bratchikova. Following her improved performance at Wimbledon, she reached a career-high ranking of world No. 125 on July 4, 2011.

Stephens was given a wildcard in San Diego and made her first WTA quarterfinals, defeating Julia Görges en route. However, she lost to Andrea Petkovic in the quarterfinals. She then lost in the first round of Cincinnati and the final qualifying round of New Haven. Being granted a wildcard to the US Open, she won her first main-draw Grand Slam match by beating Réka Luca Jani in the first round. She backed up this win by beating 23rd seed Shahar Pe'er in the second round. She then lost to former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic.

Stephens ended the year as the youngest player in the year-end top 100, at No. 97.

2012: Teenage success

In 2012, Stephens reached the second round of the Australian Open, where she lost to 18th seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Stephens was then given a wildcard to play in the 2012 Indian Wells Masters, where she made it to the second round. She then qualified for the 2012 Miami Masters, where she advanced to the third round, defeating 30th seed Sara Errani in the second round. After the Miami Masters, she travelled to Ukraine, where she enlarged USA's lead to 5-0 following a win with Liezel Huber in the doubles tie against Lyudmyla Kichenok and Nadiia Kichenok. After failing to qualify for the 2012 Madrid Masters, she qualified for the 2012 Internazionali BNL d'Italia and advanced to the second round.

She then traveled to Strasbourg and advanced to the second round after Maria Kirilenko retired. Stephens then beat fellow teenager Tímea Babos, before advancing to the semifinals with a straight-set win over Ayumi Morita. She was defeated in the semifinals by former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone. It was her first trip to the semifinals of a WTA tournament.

She advanced to the fourth round of the 2012 French Open by defeating Ekaterina Makarova, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and Mathilde Johansson. In the fourth round, she lost to sixth seed Samantha Stosur in two sets. She advanced to the third round of Wimbledon by defeating Karolína Plíšková in the first round and upsetting 23rd seed Petra Cetkovská in three sets in the second round. In the third round, she lost to German Sabine Lisicki.

Stephens travelled to Washington, D.C. to compete in the 2012 Citi Open. She was seeded third and defeated Sesil Karatantcheva in the first round, Michelle Larcher de Brito in the second, and Eugenie Bouchard in the quarterfinals, but fell to Magdaléna Rybáriková in the semifinals. In New Haven, she defeated seeded 33rd Austrian Tamira Paszek, but suffered a three-set loss to 11th seed Marion Bartoli.

In the 2012 US Open, she participated in Women's Singles, Women's Doubles with Tímea Babos, and Mixed Doubles with Rajeev Ram. In the first round of singles, she stunned 22nd seed Francesca Schiavone in front of the home crowd in the Louis Armstrong stadium. She then defeated Tatjana Malek in the second round. Stephens then faced 12th seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. She won first set, but Ivanovic eventually rallied to beat Stephens in three sets. In women's doubles, she and Babos lost in the first round against Janette Husárová and Magdaléna Rybáriková. In mixed doubles, Stephens and Ram defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Horia Tecău, who were the champions in the 2012 Australian Open, but the pair retired in the second round. Later, Stephens said she had been playing with a torn abdominal muscle, which she initially injured during the fourth round at Roland Garros. "I kept playing when I shouldn't have", she told Tennis Now. She ended the year as the youngest player in the year-end top 50, and the only teenager.

2013: Australian Open semifinal and career-high ranking

Stephens began the year by reaching the quarterfinals of the 2013 Brisbane International, defeating Dominika Cibulková and Sofia Arvidsson en route before losing to Serena Williams in straight sets in the quarterfinals. The following week, she reached the semi-finals of the 2013 Moorilla Hobart International, where she was seeded eighth. She defeated Laura Robson, Simona Halep and Lauren Davis en route before losing to the eventual champion, Elena Vesnina in straight sets. Stephens achieved a new career high singles ranking of world No. 25 following the event.

At the Australian Open, she was seeded 29th. She defeated Halep, Kristina Mladenovic, Laura Robson and Bojana Jovanovski to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal where she defeated world No. 3 and tournament favorite Serena Williams in three sets to reach the semi-finals. There, she lost a next match to the world No. 1 and defending champion, Victoria Azarenka. However, as a result of reaching the semifinals, Stephens achieved a new career high singles ranking of world No. 17 following the event, making her the youngest player (and the only teenager) in the top 20.

Following the Australian Open, she pulled out of the first round Fed Cup tie for United States against the third-seeded Italy due to a strained abdominal muscle. She lost her opening round matches in Doha, Dubai and Indian Wells before reaching the fourth round of the 2013 Sony Open Tennis after defeating Olga Govortsova and receiving a walkover Venus Williams in the third round. However, she lost to the 4th seed and defending champion Agnieszka Radwańska in three sets. Stephens then lost in the second round of the 2013 Family Circle Cup to Bethanie Mattek-Sands after receiving a first round bye. She then lost her match against Sofia Arvidsson during the 2013 Fed Cup World Group Play-offs, but the United States Fed Cup Team defeated Sweden 3–2 to secure themselves a place in the 2014 World Group. Stephens' poor form continued as she lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the opening round of 2013 Mutua Madrid Open. She broke her losing streak at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia by defeating Flavia Pennetta and Kiki Bertens to reach the third round where she lost to the world No. 2 and two-time defending champion, Maria Sharapova. At the Brussels Open, Stephens defeated Tsvetana Pironkova and Zhang Shuai to reach the quarterfinals where she lost in straight sets to eighth seed, Peng Shuai. She finished the clay court season by reaching the fourth round of the 2013 French Open for the second consecutive year, defeating Karin Knapp, Vania King and Marina Erakovic en route before losing to second seed and defending champion, Maria Sharapova. She also played in the doubles draw with her partner Mallory Burdette. The pair lost in the first round to eventual champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.

Stephens was seeded 17th at the Wimbledon Championships. She defeated Jamie Hampton, Andrea Petkovic, Petra Cetkovská and Monica Puig to reach the quarterfinals for the first time where she lost in straight sets to fifteenth seed and eventual champion Marion Bartoli. She was defeated in the first round in the 2013 Citi Open, and reached merely the third round of the 2013 Rogers Cup. She defeated third-seeded Maria Sharapova in the second round of the 2013 Western & Southern Open, though lost in the next round. Seeded 15th, She barely pulled through the first round of the 2013 US Open, beating Mandy Minella by the extremely close score. She then recovered, cruising past Urszula Radwańska in the second round and Jamie Hampton in the third, before losing in the fourth round to eventual champion Serena Williams in straight sets.

Stephens then travelled to Istanbul as one of two alternates for the 2013 WTA Tour Championships, but she did not get an opportunity to play. She finished the year ranked world number 11 and the only woman in top 30 under the age of 22.

2014: Inconsistencies

Stephens began 2014 at the Hopman Cup with John Isner representing USA. In their first rubber, USA comfortably won all of their matches against Spain. In their second rubber against France, Stephens successfully defeated Alizé Cornet, while Isner lost his singles match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and the pair lost their doubles match. In their final rubber, they faced the Czech Republic team consisting of Petra Kvitová and Radek Štěpánek. In her match against Kvitová, she was forced to retire after losing the first set, handing the Czech team a decisive lead in their rubber. As a result of her injury, her and Isner were replaced by Bojana Bobusic and Oliver Anderson in the mixed doubles, ending her Hopman Cup campaign.

Seeded 13th at the Australian Open, Stephens advanced to the second round with a close two-set victory over Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova. In the second round, she squared off against Ajla Tomljanović and came from behind to defeat her in three sets. She followed this up with a straight sets win over Elina Svitolina, setting up a clash with 2nd seed Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round. Stephens would go on to lose in a rematch of the previous edition's semifinal. Following the Australian Open, Stephens competed in Doha and Dubai, falling in the first round of both tournaments. She regained form at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Seeded 17th, she received a bye into the second round, where she dispatched Ajla Tomljanović, Ana Ivanovic and Alisa Kleybanova in successive matches. Stephens' run was ended in the quarterfinals by veteran Flavia Pennetta, despite saving 4 match points in the final set. At the Sony Open Tennis, she defeated Zarina Diyas in the second round before slumping to a straight set loss to Caroline Wozniacki.

Stephens began her clay-court season in Charleston, seeded 4th. Receiving a bye into the second round, she drew Elina Svitolina and was defeated by the Ukrainian in straight sets. She then traveled to Colombia to compete in the Copa Colsanitas, but suffered another opening-match loss to world No. 129 Mariana Duque. She then participed in the Fed Cup as the top-ranked player in their Fed Cup World Group Play-offs tie. Squaring off against France, she contested two singles matches with mixed results, losing to Caroline Garcia before defeating Virginie Razzano. The United States would go on to lose to the French team, resulting in their relegation to the World Group II in 2015. After Fed Cup, Stephens played at the Mutua Madrid Open as the 16th seed, recording three-set victories over qualifiers Monica Niculescu and Petra Cetkovská. She ended up losing to the reigning Australian Open champion Li Na in the third round. Her next tournament in Rome was less successful, bowing out to countrywoman Varvara Lepchenko in the second round. Short of clay-court wins leading into Paris, Stephens elected to play at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, in which she received a wildcard as the top seed. However, she was unable to pick up form and lost to world No. 108 Julia Görges in their first round encounter. At the French Open, Stephens defeated Peng Shuai in the first round, and Polona Hercog and Ekaterina Makarova in second and third rounds, before going down to 4th seed Simona Halep in two sets. Despite the loss, her achievement in reaching the fourth round was particularly significant, as it marked the 6th consecutive grand slam second week.

Stephens kicked off the grass court season in Birmingham as the 3rd seed. She received a bye into the second round, where she defeated Francesca Schiavone. She then faced countrywoman Alison Riske and won in three sets, setting up a clash with 9th seed Zhang Shuai. She would lose to the Chinese in two sets. In Eastbourne, she beat Caroline Garcia in the first round before falling to Caroline Wozniacki. Stephens was seeded 18th at Wimbledon, but suffered a first round loss to world No. 109 Maria Kirilenko in the first round. Her loss to the Russian snapped her Grand Slam second week streak, as she had not previously lost before the 4th round since the 2012 US Open.

Following Wimbledon, Stephens began her US Open Series campaign at the Citi Open, but was defeated in the first round by Christina McHale. She would next compete in Montreal and Cincinnati, losing in the second and third rounds, respectively. At the US Open, Stephens was seeded 21st and easily beat Annika Beck in the first round. She did, however, lose to world No. 96 Johanna Larsson in the second round, committing 63 errors in the process.

2015: Return to form and first career title

Stephens began her 2015 season at the ASB Classic in Auckland as the 6th seed. She lost in the second round to lower-ranked compatriot Lauren Davis in a three-set battle. Moving on to Hobart, she once again was defeated in the second round, this time by Heather Watson who went on to win the tournament. With a slow start to the season and coming into the Australian Open unseeded, Stephens faced Victoria Azarenka in the 1st round, losing in two sets.

Her losing streak continued in Acapulco, where she fell to Johanna Larsson in the first round. However, she managed to regain some form and start turning the season around at Indian Wells. In the first round, she defeated Chanelle Scheepers in two tights sets. She then beat former top 10 players Angelique Kerber and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the 2nd and 3rd rounds respectively. Facing world No. 1 in the R16, Serena Williams, Stephens won a tight first set in a tiebreak, before falling in three sets. She continued this form in Miami, going a step further than the previous tournament and reaching the quarterfinals. With straight set victories over Yanina Wickmayer, Madison Keys, Johanna Larsson, and Belinda Bencic in the first four-round, Stephens eventually fell to world No. 3, Simona Halep after putting up a tough fight in the second set.

Going into the clay court season, Sloane was not able to capitalize on this momentum, but was playing with more confidence than she had been at the beginning of the year. Going out to Mona Barthel in the second round in Charleston, Serena Williams in the second round in Madrid, and Sabine Lisicki in the first round in Rome, Stephens turned her clay court season around in Strasbourg. She reached the semifinals after defeating qualifier Nadiia Kichenok, compatriot CoCo Vandeweghe, and former world No. 1, Jelena Janković. In the semifinals, she was defeated by Sam Stosur. Stephens then went on to make it to the 4th round of the French Open for a third consecutive year. Beating Venus Williams in the first round in a tight first set tiebreak, she closed the match out in two sets. After defeating Heather Watson and Tsvetana Pironkova, she met Serena Williams for a third time this season in the Round of 16. Although she came within three points of winning the match, Stephens fell in three sets.

Stephens started off her grass court season at the premier tournament in Eastbourne. After winning a three set battle against qualifier and Brit Naomi Broady, she defeated top 10 player Carla Suarréz Navarro for her first top 10 win in almost two years. With a win over Heather Watson in the third round and a walkover from Daria Gavrilova in the quarterfinals, Stephens reached her second semifinal of the year. Playing Agnieszka Radwanksa, she was able to push the match to three sets, but was unable to win. Stephens continued this good form into the Wimbledon Championships, where she lost in the first round in 2014. In the first round, she defeated 27th seed and 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Barbara Strýcová and then beat Lauren Davis in the second round. Stephens set up a third round encounter with 2015 French Open finalist Lucie Šafářová, but fell in three sets.

She carried her form into the Citi Open where she captured her 1st WTA title beating Sam Stosur en route.

Stephens continued her hard court season at Toronto, where she would lose in the first round to Dominika Cibulková. She then picked up success in Cincinnati, defeating both Carla Suárez Navarro and Mona Barthel, before being topped by Ana Ivanovic in the Round of 16. Despite being seeded No. 29, her hard court success was temporarily put on hold with a first round loss at the US Open to Coco Vandeweghe. Stephens was able to regain her form at Seoul, besting Na-Lae Han and Kimiko Date-Krumm. Stephens would lose to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the Quarterfinals. In Wuhan, Sloane picked up a first round win against Alison Riske but would lose in the next round to Garbiñe Muguruza. She had a similar outcome in Beijing, beating the No. 9 seed Karolína Plíšková, and losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova, in three sets, in the next round. She was seeded No. 29. Her final tournament of the year was cut short with a first round loss to Mona Barthel in Luxembourg.

Stephens ended the 2015 season ranked No. 30.

2016: Three WTA titles, foot injury

Stephens started her season at Auckland in the ASB Classic. She defeated Polona Hercog, Carina Witthöft and qualifier Naomi Broady to advance to the semifinals against Caroline Wozniacki. The semifinal match was forced to be postponed due to rainy weather when Stephens was leading 5–2 first set. Stephens finished the semifinal match in two sets and defeated Julia Görges in straight sets on the same day to claim her second WTA title.

At the Australian Open she was the 24th seed. In the first round she was put up against qualifier Wang Qiang but lost in two sets in a 1-hour and 23 minutes match.

Stephens defeated Magda Linette in Fed Cup II. World Group match against Poland.

Stephens claimed her third career title at Acapulco in the Abierto Mexicano Telcel. She defeated qualifier Louisa Chirico, Olga Govortsova, wild card Naomi Osaka, Yanina Wickmayer and Dominika Cibulková in a three-hour final decided in a tiebreak. After receiving a first round bye in Indian Wells, Stephens suffered a straight sets loss to a resurgent Eugenie Bouchard. The same happened at the Miami Open, where she lost to Heather Watson.

Her next tournament was the Volvo Car Open, where she received another first round bye and beat Danka Kovinić, Daria Gavrilova, Daria Kasatkina and Angelique Kerber (who retired in the second set) en route to the final, where she won her fourth singles title, $128,000 and a new electric blue Volvo V60 Polestar by defeating Elena Vesnina in straight sets. The remainder of her clay court season was faced with modest success, getting to the Round of 16 at Strasbourg, and the Round of 32 at both Madrid and Roland Garros.

After getting to the Round of 32 at Wimbledon, she faced first round losses in Washington DC, Montreal, and the Rio 2016 Olympics. This was her first time qualifying for the Olympic Games.

On August 26, Stephens withdrew from the US Open due to a right foot stress fracture, which would sideline her for the rest of the year. She finished the year ranked 36 in the world.

2017: Comeback from surgery and US Open Champion

After having foot surgery in January with plans to return to the tour in summer, Stephens was granted the opportunity to be a broadcaster for Tennis Channel. She was featured as an off-court personality, showing activities around the grounds and conducting player interviews in Indian Wells, Miami, and Charleston.

Stephens started her comeback at Wimbledon, but fell in the first round to compatriot Alison Riske. She also lost in the first round in her next tournament at the Citi Open.

Her first breakthrough of the year came at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. Even though she entered the tournament unseeded, she surged all the way to the semifinals before falling to Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. She also reached semifinals in Cincinnati, defeating former world No. 2 Petra Kvitova for the second time in two weeks. These results saw Stephens come back to the top 100 in the rankings.

Entering the US Open with a protected ranking, Stephens defeated 2015 US Open finalist Roberta Vinci in straight sets in the first round, then followed that up by upsetting 11th seed Dominika Cibulková in three sets. She then defeated breakout Australian Ashleigh Barty and 30th seed Julia Görges, to advance to her first US Open quarterfinal and her first quarterfinal at a major since Wimbledon in 2013. She faced 16th seed Anastasija Sevastova, and was victorious in three sets, advancing to the semifinal, where she defeated Venus Williams in three sets, reaching her first final in a Grand Slam tournament. She then beat Madison Keys in the final for her first Grand Slam title. Other than the Williams sisters, she was the first female American US Open champion since Lindsay Davenport in 1998, and the first Grand Slam winner since Jennifer Capriati won the Australian Open in 2002.

Playing style

Stephens is an all-court player. She hits her forehand with a large swing and as a result the shot can be either a strength or a weakness for her. Stephens sports a powerful two-handed backhand. Cross-court, she tends to hit a very steady ball, often hoping to run around her backhand in order to hit an aggressive forehand. She often finishes points at the net and is a competent volleyer. In her 2013 Australian Open match against Serena Williams, she won 18 of 20 (90%) net points. She also has a good serve with a very fluid motion.

Stephens often stays well behind the baseline, relying on her athleticism to chase and return balls. She is capable of defending against powerfully-hit shots, and occasionally turns defensive shots into offensive shots. Fitness is one of her biggest strengths on the tennis court.

Grand Slam tournament performance timelines

Only WTA Tour main draw (incl. Grand Slams), Olympics and Fed Cup results are considered.

This table is current through the 2017 US Open.