How Stephens is navigating success on and off the court

3m read 01 Jun 2023 2y ago

Jimmie48/WTA

By virtually any standard, Sloane Stephens is living her best life -- or anyone else’s for that matter.

Stephens meets Yulia Putintseva in the third round of the French Open on Friday. A victory will give her 100 more match-wins than losses (353-253). Stephens has won more than $17 million in prize money and one of her seven titles was the 2017 US Open. Off the court, she’s earned two college degrees and is married to soccer star Jozy Altidore. She’s also been an insightful Tennis Channel guest analyst.

And Wednesday, she earned a relatively easy win against 6-2, 6-1 win against Varvara Grecheva to reach the third round of the French Open.

Maybe life does begin at 30, a milestone she passed on the first day of spring back in March.

French Open Day: Scores | Order of play | Draw

So, why was Stephens, who will be featured in Part 2 of Netflix's Break Point, laboring in the relative obscurity of a WTA 125 event in Saint-Malo, France the first week of May? Certainly, it seemed beneath her. Stephens would win all five of her matches -- the highest-ranked opponent was Jessika Ponchet, a No.124 -- and take home a little over $13,000.

“I think going to Saint-Malo was a good choice for me obviously to get more matches and get a win there and get some confidence,” said Stephens, who defeated Elina Svitolina in the semifinals and Greet Minnen (No.173) in the final. “Yeah, really happy with the way I have been playing. Been able to put a lot of matches together and a lot of wins, which is always good, good for the confidence.”

At Roland Garros, where she advanced all the way to the final in 2018, Stephens has been in vintage form. She knocked off No.16 seed Karolina Pliskova in the first round before her 1-hour, 13-minute victory against Gracheva.

How much does Stephens love Paris? Record-wise it’s her best Grand Slam, and she’s now won her opening match there 11 years in a row. The only time she missed was as an 18-year-old qualifier when she lost to Elena Baltacha.

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“Coming into last season to the French Open, I didn’t win any matches before, so obviously I have had a lot of different scenarios coming into the French Open,” said Stephens, who is ranked No. 30. “But this year my goal was to get a lot of matches.”

And that’s just how it’s played out. Putintseva, though, will be a tough out. They’ve played five times and Putintseva holds a 3-2 edge, based on their most recent meeting in the first round of the 2021 Australian Open. Putintseva is coming off an impressive three-set win over No.19 seed Zheng Qinwen.

If the seeds hold, the winner would face No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in a fourth-round match. That would be another resume-builder for Stephens, but she doesn’t measure her accomplishments by tennis alone.

“My professional career outside of tennis has been amazing,” she said. “I have been able to do incredible things, and a lot of the work and things behind the scenes I have been very proud of. I think that obviously with tennis being an 11-month sport it does limit you and the things you’re passionate about outside of tennis. I do think you have to make a lot of sacrifices in terms of whether it’s going to be tennis or your other passions and things that you want to do.”

Athletes, of course, are usually measured by the narrow range of their accomplishments in the arena, not with a longer lens.

“Some people may say that I didn’t do everything I should have done in tennis,” Stephens said, “but I think in life when you can be proud of the things that you have done and the choices and decisions that you make for yourself.

“At the end of the day that’s all that really matters.”

Greg Garber