In life, everyone is expected to have a role model or a person that inspires them. Whether it’s in sports, career, parenting or spirituality, your role model is that person you look up to. You admire their skill, expertise, composure, energy or knowledge about a certain aspect of life.
If you are a tennis star, then you have probably heard of Sloane Stephens. Born to a swimmer mother and a Bowl running back father, Stephens no doubt has sports genes in her blood. She was the first African-American woman to be a first-team All-American.
Stephens is believed to be the next American Tennis star following Serena Williams. Learn more about Sloane Stephens below.
Who Is Sloane Stephens?
Born on March 20, 1993 in Plantain, Florida, US, Sloane Stephens is undoubtedly the next tennis star after Serena Williams. Born to sporting parents, she started her tennis career at the age of nine and at twelve, she started training at Evert Tennis Academy.
Her first tennis training was at the tennis club across the street from her home. She was also inspired by her stepfather who was a competitive recreational tennis player. Later, Stephens moved to Florida to start training at a tennis academy. At the academy, she worked with Nick Saviano for many years.
From a tender age, she had the potential of evolving into a talented tennis player. At 13, she reached a career high in the ITF Junior World Tennis, ranking 5th and won Grand Slam girls’ three out of four doubles titles alongside her partner, Timea Babos in 2010.
From then, Stephens has had an impressive resume of scooping 2017 US Open and getting to 2018 French Open final and has won a total of six career singles titles.
Junior Career
In 2008, she got her first breakthrough result at the US Open where she reached her first doubles final with Mallory Burdette. Stephens later finished the year with a semifinal appearance at the Orange Bowl tournament.
Early 2009, Stephens won her first two tournaments of the year, the Grade A Italian Open and the Grade 1 USTA International Championships.
After these big titles, Stephens only played in 2009 and 2010 in the remaining junior Grand Slam events while skipping the Australian Open.
She also won Grand Slam girls’ three out of four doubles titles with her partner, Timea Babos in 2010. They were the second girls’ pair to win three Grand Slam tournament double titles in a single season after Ludmilla Varmuzova and Corina Morariu. In each of the singles, Stephens got to at least the quarter-finals.
Professional Career
In 2007, Sloane played on the ITF Women’s Circuit as her first professional event. In 2008, she received qualifying wild card into the Miami Open, her first WTA event where she lost her opening match and lost in qualifying the following two years.
At 15 years, Stephens defeated Melinda Czink, the world’s No. 109 but didn’t advance to any of these appearances’’ main draws. In 2010, she qualified for the Indian Wells Open and had her WTA debut before turning 17.
Stephens won the 2017 US Open and got to the 2018 French Open final. She was ranked the World’s No. 3 in 2018. However, she fell out of the top 20 in 2019 since she failed to reach any WTA circuit event. This is an impressive resume and hence has been said to be the next Serena Williams.
Bottom Line
Stephen Sloane is the next big name in tennis. Starting at a tender age of nine, the American tennis star has steadily built her tennis career, scooping a number of achievements. For instance, she won a Grand Slam event, the 2017 US Open, was a runner-up in the French Open and six WTA titles and 1 ITF.
