Healthy Sloane’s big plans
WHEN Sloane Stephens left Australian shores last January, she had a healing knee and an astounding eight-match losing streak.
Somehow, she assembled a 2018 season in which she took the scalps of eight top-10 women, made the French Open final and became the sixth-ranked player.
Stephens was a late withdrawal from last summer’s Brisbane International, and took first-round losses in Sydney and Melbourne, to add to losses in 2017 in all six matches she played after her surprise US Open triumph.
“My knee was bummed up. I was trying to get ready for Melbourne this time last year. I wanted to try,’’ Stephens said.
“I went home after Australia and got back to work.
“I thought I had a really solid season.”
The 25-year-old American is happy to be at the Brisbane International for the first time since 2014, when she lost in the quarter-finals to Serena Williams, before upending Williams at the Australian Open.
“I always wanted to come back here.”
Stephens plays Britain’s former top-five player Johanna Konta in a showcase women’s first round match at the Queensland Tennis Centre.
Queensland’s World No.15 Ash Barty is younger than Stephens by three years and the American is well placed to say how close Barty is to being a Grand Slam contender on a tour where the past eight majors have had different winners.
“Ash is one of my favourite players on tour but everyone develops at their own speed. I can’t speak about how long it would take her to get there,’’ she said.
“I hope she does improve and for Australian tennis she will be a great.” READY: Sloane Stephens practises in Brisbane yesterday ahead of her opening match against Britain’s Johanna Konta in the Brisbane International.
Nadal is poised to play his first ATP match in four months after a first-round bye, meeting either France’s JoWilfried Tsonga or the Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis.
The tennis nuts among the 500-strong crowd who watched Nadal hit on a back court will have noticed it was not as physical or as long as his past renowned sessions.
The world No.2 spent at least one-third of his first session since his long-haul flight sitting on a chair, chatting with coaches and his hitting partner and often joking.
His coach Carlos Moya told the ATP’s website that Nadal, his coaches and trainer were looking at his training schedules and the “frequency’’ of the workouts.
“We are looking at the time Rafa spends training and managing his calendar,” Moya said.
“We have to find the key so that (the amount of injuries) will not happen again.’’
Nadal’s brutal game style was an eye-opener to Alex de Minaur in the Spaniard’s straight-sets Wimbledon win in July, but the Australian teenager said he would be wiser next time.