Sloane Stephens Hits Out At Haters Telling Her To Retire, Reminds Of 'Money' Aspect
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Sloane Stephens might not be enjoying her best years on the WTA Tour, but she strongly hit out at those telling her to retire.
The American player won her first and only Grand Slam title at the 2017 US Open, and by 2018, she was ranked third in the world. However, after her big success, Stephens' career plateaued for a while, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, she played only 15 matches out of which she managed to win only four. It was the only season of her career in which she lost more matches than she won until 2024.
Last year, the 31-year-old American player won 19 matches but lost 22 times, and she dropped to her lowest ranking since 2017. At the moment, Stephens is ranked 74th.
During the off-season, she said she was unsure of how long she would continue playing, but now it seems that wasn't a hit at retirement, as she hit out at those telling her to retire.
Stephens spoke to US Weekly, explaining that many of those criticizing her on social media don't realize she's a human, too, and she also argued they wouldn't be able to say the things they are saying to her face.
"People don’t have any filter. They also don’t realize that you’re another human being. They would never say it to your face. It actually prohibits people from putting their lives out there because they don’t want to be judged."
At the same time, Stephens doesn't see a reason to retire unless she wants to. In 2024, she won $892,226 in prize money, and throughout her career, the American player accumulated a total of $18,864,835 in prize money.
Of course, she earned millions in sponsorship deals, and as long as she can still earn money with what she does, she doesn't see a reason to retire.
"It’s all about what the athlete can handle, right? 'You should retire?' I'm like, 'If these people are still paying me, I'm not going.' I think people don’t realize, if someone was paying you a lot of money, you wouldn’t quit your job. You wouldn’t leave your job."
Stephens also talked about those who write negative comments under her posts. She realizes where those comments come from, as it's usually angry bettors commenting, so she's able to filter them out.
"As an athlete, you have such tough skin in general. For the bettors and the people who are literally like, 'You should have won, you f—ing bitch' So when people comment on my post like, 'Why are you posting this?' It’s my page. Get the f— off."
"I'm like, 'Oh, whatever.' If I post and you don’t like it, just follow somebody else. Unfollow me. Block me. Do whatever you need to do. If you feel secure in your world and in your life and in your tennis or whatever it is, you don’t react as much to things other people are saying."
