From 957th in the world to a US Open final
Super Sloane has glory in sight
Sloane Stephens began the summer working with tennis broadcasters as an analyst while she recuperated from surgery on her foot.
She will end it contesting tonight’s final of the US open against her close friend and compatriot, Madison Keys.
Wimbledon was her first tournament of the season, but Stephens has accumulated form and confidence so quickly that she has gone from a ranking of 957 to the championship match at Flushing Meadows in barely a month.
She is now world no 83, and seeing her make the final seemed unthinkable two weeks ago, but she edged out Venus Williams in a gripping deciding set late on Thursday, winning 6-1, 0-6, 7-5.
Whoever wins tonight, the three women who have won Grand Slams during Serena Williams’s absence will be aged 24 or under.
‘I knew I was going to have to play my way into shape starting from Wimbledon because I obviously couldn’t run that much,’ said Stephens. ‘I was in a walking boot a month before I played there.’
Stephens relies on her movement a lot, rather than the purely powerful groundstrokes she will be up against from Keys.
It is not surprising that Stephens is a formidable athlete, given that her mother was a top college swimmer and her father John played in the nFl as a running back, mainly for the new england Patriots. He was killed in a car accident eight years ago.
She has another sporting connection in that her boyfriend is the well- travelled american striker Jozy altidore, who had spells at Hull City and Sunderland.
Stephens said she was particularly proud of being in a final of two players with african-american heritage, 60 years on from when althea Gibson broke down barriers by winning Wimbledon and the US open in the same summer.
‘I don’t think there is any word to describe it other than “amazing” for me and Maddie. Venus, we are following in her footsteps. She’s represented the game so well as an africanamerican woman. Maddie and I are here to join her and represent just as well, and are honoured to be here.’
Stephens has long been talked about as america’s potential successor to the Williams sisters, and the same can be said of Keys. The 22-year- old from Rock Island, Illinois has not always found it easy to live with that burden. on Thursday she left another american hopeful, Coco Vandeweghe, in tears by hammering her 6-1, 6-2 in their semi-final.
‘I love her to death’, says Stephens of her opponent tonight. Keys is probably the favourite, but as Stephens correctly pointed out, the enormity of the match and the fact that it is new ground for both could act as a leveller.
‘Both players have so many emotions and things going through their head,’ said Stephens. ‘It’s a big occasion for both of us.’