Power couple
Soccer star Jozy Altidore and tennis star Sloane Stephens make it work on sports’ big stage
Jozy Altidore’s most nerve-racking moments this year haven’t been as part of the USA’s roller coaster ride through World Cup qualifying, one that looks set to come to a successful conclusion Tuesday night.
Altidore cares about playing for his country as much as any player on the roster, it’s just that he doesn’t really get edgy for even the biggest games. Watching his girlfriend make magic happen at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in September, though? That’s a whole different matter.
“It is crazy how powerless you are,” Altidore told USA TODAY Sports on Monday. “I have never had a moment like that until sitting in that players box. All you can do is support.”
Altidore and Sloane Stephens, the tennis star who made the Flushing Meadows crowd fall in love with her last month thanks to a killer game, a magnetic smile and an inspirational backstory, were childhood friends who reconnected at the start of 2016 and began a relationship.
They have no wish to be fodder for the gossip pages, which is why this might be the first you’ve heard about them being together. But Altidore, between commitments for the U.S. team and Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC, was a regular fixture in Queens as Stephens, 24, won her first Grand Slam tournament title.
He was fortunate in that the USA was playing in the New York area during the first week of the tournament, a game it would lose to Costa Rica 2-0, sparking fears of missing the World Cup that were essentially put to rest by last week’s win against Panama.
Altidore was there at courtside in the second round when Stephens started to pick up momentum with a victory over 11th seed Dominika Cibulkova. He was back for the fourth round to see Stephens dispatch Julia Goerges in three sets but then had to return to Toronto and club duties, having been suspended for the USA’s visit to Honduras after picking up too many yellow cards. However, once Stephens powered into a semifinal showdown with Venus Williams, there was no way Altidore was going to miss it.
He practiced on the day of the semifinal, then caught a flight to New York. After Stephens outlasted the timeless veteran in a spectacular late-night thriller, he took a private plane back.
“It made me so happy,” Altidore said. “To be there and see it from the beginning and to see the end goal, this was her ultimate dream. And for it to happen to such a good person, someone who is always caring and looking for other people other than herself ? She is special and she deserves it more than anyone I can think of.”
Altidore takes his soccer seriously and knows that the matter of reaching a World Cup is vitally important for the future of the game in America. When he talks about the national team and what it means to him, he does so with earnestness and intensity. But when he is asked about Stephens, he relaxes and smiles almost constantly.
Their relationship has to contend with the realities of athletic life. Altidore is constantly on the move around North America and the CONCACAF region; Stephens might find herself anywhere on the planet on any given day as one of the stars of the WTA Tour. Altidore says the level of understanding that comes with being a fellow athlete is valuable.
“She is somebody who gets everything I am going through without having to say anything,” Altidore added. “You look at each other and you kind of know right away if one of you is annoyed. She just kind of gets the mood I’m in, as obviously she lives a very similar kind of life.
“In that regard it works really well, there is no stress. She is a successful athlete and I do OK, and we just enjoy our time together when we are together.”
Stephens’ story is one of the best things to happen to tennis in recent times. It is the tale of perseverance, having come back from injuries that threatened to derail her promising career. Just weeks before the U.S. Open she was ranked 957 as a result of all the time off. In New York, the fans saw everything suddenly click. Altidore, who knows what demoralizing injuries are like having missed most of the last World Cup, saw the result of months of hard work.
“She deserves every amount of credit she is getting now,” he said. “She put it all in when no one was watching and she reaped all the benefits by coming back and setting the world on fire.”
Stephens’ tennis commitments meant she was unavailable to comment, but she communicated through her representatives that she was “more than happy” for Altidore to discuss their partnership.
Stephens is a fun character, and so is her friend and the wom- an she defeated in the final, Madison Keys. The pair shared a touching hug at the net, but the most priceless moment was the look they shared when presented with their multimillion-dollar prize checks.
Altidore would have done anything to be there, but he was powerless to shift the MLS schedule, which put Toronto FC in action at the same time of the women’s final.
At BMO Field in Toronto he was running around anxiously, demanding updates from Toronto’s trainer and assistant manager and asking for all screens at the stadium to be tuned to the tennis. After their respective matches, they were on the phone, Stephens sharing a blow-by-blow account of her triumph and Altidore grinning from ear to ear.
Now Altidore has his own challenge ahead. Some see Tuesday’s game, in which the USA realistically only needs a point, as just something to get through. But strange things happen in international soccer, and Altidore has been through too much to be complacent.
“Everything I have seen with Sloane shows that you can’t take anything for granted,” he said. “You get rewarded for the effort you put in and the work you do, not by being complacent. She has inspired me. It is just a win-win.”