Sloane stephens biography books

Literally and figuratively, it is the biggest stage in the sport, and Stephens was up to her first challenge there. She defeated Sevastova,to earn a date with Venus Williams in the semifinals. Serena would go on to win more Grand Slam titles than anyone in the modern era, but it was older sister Venus who burst on the scene first.

Because of their success on the tennis court, the Williams sisters were arguably among the most successful and recognizable African American women in the world, which made it easy for an African American girl like Sloane Stephens to grow up admiring them. Stephens still admired and appreciated all that Venus and Serena had accomplished, but she could no longer let those feelings get in the way of her own ambitions.

When the match began, it looked like it would be easy: Stephens took the first set, But just as she breezed through that set, Williams made quick work of the second set, winning In the best-of-three match, Stephens shook off that poor second set to win the first two games of the third and deciding set. But then the roller-coaster ride began: Williams won the next three games to go up ; Stephens won the next two to go up ; Williams took the next two for a lead.

The tenth game was tied Stephens was two points away from tying the set—but she was also two points away from losing the match. She decided she was not going to lose. On the ensuing volley, Stephens rocketed a backhand shot down the line that flew past Williams. Stephens won the next point too, and the set was all tied up.

Sloane stephens biography books: All-court tennis phenom Sloane Stephens

Suddenly Stephens found herself serving for the match. Four points later, she had it. The, victory sent her to the US Open final. Despite the momentous win over Williams in the semifinals, Stephens still found herself nervously reading those car safety reviews in the hotel on the eve of the title match. But when it came time to face her good friend Madison Keys in the US Open championship match the next day, Stephens was cool, calm, and collected.

Stephens won the first set, She was up in the second set but facing game point. Keys made a great drop shot, but Stephens came racing to the net and returned the volley. With Stephens at the net, Keys was in position to easily hit a forehand shot over her head to close out the game, but Stephens—using lightning-fast reflexes—lunged to her right and sent the ball back over the net.

Learn all about the childhood that put Sloane on the path to success in this fascinating biography. Loading interface About the author. Craig Ellenport 28 books 1 follower. Craig Ellenport has been writing about college and professional football since Write a Review. Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

She had foot surgery in January and could not walk again sloane stephen biography books a boot until the middle of April. She attended several WTA events in the United States including Indian Wells, the Miami, and Charleston, where she interviewed fellow tennis players and also provided analysis. She lost her first two matches back, one to compatriot Alison Riske at Wimbledon, and the other to No.

By August, Stephens's ranking had continued to fall to as low as No. But she was able to reach the semifinals of both Premier 5 tournaments that month, the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open. Stephens was defeated by a top ten player in both semifinals, No. Stephens had entered the month having never reached a semifinal at a high-level Premier tournament.

With these results, Stephens climbed back into the top of the WTA rankings. Stephens entered the US Open at world No. Her first upset of the tournament came in the second round over No. After two lopsided split sets, Stephens won a tight third set to reach her first Grand Slam singles final. After the US Open, Stephens did not win another match the rest of the season.

This stretch notably included two matches at the year-end Elite Trophy as well as two singles rubbers in the Fed Cup final against Belarus. Stephens extended her losing streak to eight matches at the Australian Open. She dismissed concerns about her form from the media, saying, "Everything's good. Just relax, everybody. It'll be okay, don't worry.

She defeated three top-ten players at the event, including No. Despite winning the second biggest title of her career, Stephens was unable to make the quarterfinals in any of her French Open preparation tournaments. However, she was able to produce her best result at the tournament, making it to the final. In the semifinals, Stephens won a rematch of the US Open final against Madison Keys, the first all-American semifinal there since Stephens did not carry any momentum into the grass-court season, losing at Wimbledon in the first round in her only event.

She finished runner-up at the Canadian Open to Halep, her second high-level Premier final of the year. For the second straight year, Stephens began the Asian hardcourt season with multiple losses. However, unlike the previous year, Stephens was able to win two matches on the continent at the China Open. In the round robin stage, Stephens swept her group of Naomi OsakaKiki Bertensand Angelique Kerber to advance to the knockout stage.

Stephens struggled throughout the season. Although she remained in the top 10 for the majority of the year in large part due to ranking points she was defending from the previous year's WTA Finals, she could not match her best performances at the Grand Slam tournaments or other higher-level events. Stephens reached the fourth round at the Australian Opensecuring her first match wins at the tournament since Her best Grand Slam performance was a quarterfinal loss to Johanna Konta at the French Openwhere she could not defend her runner-up finish from the previous season.

Outside of the majors, Stephens best performance also came on clay at the Madrid Opena Premier Mandatory event. During the tournament, she reached the semifinals, where she lost to No. She fell out of the top 20 upon losing her WTA Finals rankings points near the end of the season. Stephens started her season at the Brisbane International. She lost in the first round to qualifier Liudmila Samsonova in three sets.

Sloane stephens biography books: Filled with exciting photographs, Sloane Stephens:

Seeded 24th at the Australian Openshe was eliminated in the first round by Zhang Shuaidespite serving for the match in the second set. As the top seed in AcapulcoStephens was beaten in the first round by world No. Seeded seventh, she lost in the first round to qualifier Leylah Fernandez. She showed an improvement in form at the US Open. Seeded 26th, she won her opening two matches in straight sets before losing in the third round to third seed and six-time champion Serena Williams.

Stephens started her season at the first edition of the Grampians Trophy where she lost in the first round to Leylah Fernandez.

Sloane stephens biography books: Learn about tennis superstar

Stephens losing streak continued at the Monterrey Open. As the top seed, she was eliminated in the first round by lucky loser and world No. Stephens began her clay-court season at the Charleston Open. She upset eighth seed, world No. However, she got a lucky loser spot into the main draw. She was eliminated in the first round by Madison Keys in three sets.

She was eliminated in the second round by compatriot, seventh seed, and eventual champion, Danielle Collins. In the first tie, Slovakia beat the USA 2—1. Stephens started her season at the Australian Open. She lost in the first round to 17th seed and world No. Next, she was supposed to play against Egypt's Mayar Sherif in the Monterrey first round; however, she withdrew from the tournament.

Stephens started her clay-court season at the Charleston Open. Seeded 13th, she lost in the first round to Zheng Qinwen. At the Bad Homburg Openher first grass-court tournament of the season, Stephens was beaten in the first round by British qualifier Katie Swan. In Torontoshe was defeated in the second round by third seed and world No.

Stephens started her season at the Auckland Open. Seeded second, she lost in the first round to qualifier and eventual finalist, Rebeka Masarova. She was knocked out of the tournament in the first round by compatriot Sofia Kenin. Stephens won her eighth WTA Tour singles title at the Rouen Open in April, defeating Magda Linette in the final, [ ] [ ] having registered wins over second seed Caroline Garcia in the semifinals [ ] and fourth seed Yuan Yue in the last eight.

Stephens has played five seasons with World TeamTennis starting in when she debuted in the league with the New York Buzzfollowed by a season each with the Washington Kastles inthe Philadelphia Freedoms in andand the New York Empire in Stephens played singles for the Smash throughout the season, helping them to earn a No. Chicago defeated the Orlando Storm to earn a spot in the final, but ultimately fell to the New York Empire in a supertiebreaker.

Stephens's biggest rivalry is with her close friend and compatriot Madison Keys. Keys has said, "Sloane and I, since we sloane stephen biography books 12 and 14, have constantly been compared to each other. Another opportunity for the both of us. I'd love for both of us to be able to be in the position to play each other multiple times. I'm always cheering for her.

Stephens has a 5—2 record against Madison Keys, winning their first three matches in straight sets. Stephens avenged her Charleston Open defeat inbeating Keys in straight sets in the 2nd round. But Keys prevailed at the Italian Open a month later. They played for a third time in at the US Open and Sloane prevailed in a third set tiebreak.

Stephens had frequently been regarded as a potential successor to Serena Williams to become the next top American women's tennis player, if not the best in the world. She considered them to be friends when she was starting out on the pro tour, but described Serena as simply a colleague in early After Stephens's victory against her at the tournament, Serena commented, "I made you," in a tweet believed to be directed at Stephens and did not speak to her younger compatriot until at least May.

Stephens has a 1—6 record against Serena Williams, with three of their matches coming inother three in and one in The match win and her run into a Grand Slam singles semifinal garnered international attention and put her on the cusp of cracking the top 10 of the WTA rankings later in the season. Stephens and Halep have built a rivalry centered around their highest profile matches in Because Halep has dominated their matches, Stephens has downplayed their rivalry, saying, "It's not a rivalry if you don't beat the person.

That is a definite contest. Stephens has a 2—7 record against Halep. Their two biggest matches came inboth of which were three set finals. In the first such match, the French Open final, Halep came from a set down to defeat Stephens for her first Grand Slam title. This was only the fourth time in the previous 47 Grand Slam singles finals where the winner of the first set was unable to win the match.

Halep won the first set of the match after saving four set points, two while serving at 6—5 and two more in the tiebreak. After Stephens was able to push the match to three sets Halep was able to regroup and win the match. Stephens is an all-court player, having reached the quarterfinals or better at all four majors. Her favorite surface is clay, on which she was a finalist at the French Open.

She has never won a professional title on grass, and Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam event where she has not made it to at least the semifinals. Stephens often plays behind the baseline, relying on her athleticism to defend against her opponent's shots. She excels at countering powerfully-hit shots, and is capable of turning defense into offense.

Stephens also is a proficient server: she can hit first serves as fast as — miles per hour and is capable of employing both first and second serves with a flat, sliced, or kick serve approach. Her game is commonly referred to as possessing "easy power" due to the seemingly casual nature in which she injects pace into her shots. In contrast, she has a more compact swing with her two-handed backhand.

She favors her forehand, and will run around her backhand at times to play her stronger groundstroke. Stephens has an uncharacteristic style of play compared to her fellow top-ranked American contemporaries. Whereas the other leading Americans are some of the most aggressive players on the WTA Tour, Stephens has a more passive approach.

According to the Aggression Score Metric, which measures a player's aggression based on how quickly they end points — either through a winner, an unforced error, or an opponent's forced error, Stephens has a score of This score is average compared to other women's tennis players, and rates similarly to fellow Grand Slam tournament winners Justine Henin and Victoria Azarenka.

Stephens has been perceived as having a nonchalant attitude towards losing matches and striving to meet expectations. Her sloane stephen biography books junior coach Chris Evert has questioned her motivation on multiple occasions and attributed stretches of inconsistency at various times in her career to her mentality. On the contrary, Stephens has also shown the ability to use her mindset of not worrying about disappointing outcomes to bounce back from injury and poor tournaments.

She demonstrated this type of mindset after her early US Open loss, saying, "I'm not gonna dwell on this. I'm just gonna keep improving and getting better and looking forward to the next tournaments. Upon his recommendation, Stephens moved to Florida to train at an elite junior tennis academy. Roger Smith began coaching Stephens in early and worked with her for several years.

With Smith as her coach, she became a top-ranked junior with three Grand Slam tournament doubles titles and also cracked the top of the WTA rankings. Although her ranking was high enough to qualify, she narrowly missed out on that goal as she was the fifth-highest ranked American with each country only being allotted at most four players in each draw.

She parted with him after the season in order to find a full-time coach. Nainkin had also been working with fellow American Sam Querrey that year. Stephens replaced him with Paul Annaconewho is better known for coaching two of the greatest players in tennis history in Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. She became the first woman to be coached by Annacone.

She has since won five of her six titles, including three inher first major at the US Openand her first Premier Mandatory title in She has also reached a new career-high ranking at No. In Murray's absence, Stephens had worked with Sven Groeneveld for three months. Stephens is represented by GSE Worldwide. Her clothing sponsor from was Under Armour and in early she signed with Nike.

Stephens uses Head rackets, specifically endorsing the Speed line as of January With Colgate, Stephens is a part of their Bright Smiles, Bright Futures campaign that focuses on educating children about oral hygiene. Stephens has previously signed a deal with the American Express credit card company and was formerly an endorser of the Listerine mouthwash product.

Stephens credits her mother for supporting her career as a tennis player since she was very young. When she won the US Openshe recalled an instance at age 11 when her mother believed Stephens had high upside in spite of being told by an instructor at a junior tennis academy that she would be lucky to get a tennis scholarship to a Division II college.

She has cited her grandfather as her hero and one of her biggest influences growing up. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! About the author Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations. Christine Dzidrums. Read more about this author Read less about this author.

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