Sloane Stephens was born on March 20, 1993, in Plantation, Florida, to Sybil Smith and John Stephens. Both of her parents were accomplished athletes. Sybil was a very strong swimmer, while John was a Pro Bowl running back for the New England Patriots.
Stephens began playing tennis at the age of 9. Two years later, she started to train at the Evert Tennis Academy, which was founded by John Evert, but legend of the sport Chris Evert was also involved in its running. At the age of 12, Stephens switched to the Nick Saviano Performance Tennis Academy.
The American had a very accomplished junior career. She reached at least the quarterfinal at all the Grand Slams, including a semifinal at the US Open. Stephens had even more success in doubles by winning three Grand Slam titles alongside Timea Babos.
She won her first WTA Tour match in Indian Wells in March 2010. Stephens continued to make progress for the next couple of years. This included a run to the fourth round of the French Open in 2012 and two third-round appearances at the US Open in 2011 and 2012. Stephens went further at Grand Slam level in 2013.
Her run to the semifinal of the Australian Open included a stunning quarterfinal victory against Serena Williams. That was followed by reaching the quarterfinal at Wimbledon, where she lost to the eventual champion Marion Bartoli. The American did not go that far again at Grand Slam level for another few years, but she had success at WTA 250 and 500 tournaments.
Stephens claimed a maiden title in Washington in August 2015 and then won three tournaments in 2016 in Auckland, Acapulco, and Charleston. However, the biggest moment of Stephens’ career came at the 2017 US Open. Opening victories against Roberta Vinci and Dominika Cibulkova were followed by a win over future three-time Grand Slam champion Ashleigh Barty.
She then beat Julia Goerges in three sets to make the quarterfinal. Stephens prevailed in a final-set tiebreak against Anastasija Sevastova before a stunning triumph in three sets against tennis legend Venus Williams in the semifinal.
Only her close friend Madison Keys stood between Stephens and the title. The final was more comfortable than most expected. Stephens won 6-3 6-0 to claim the US Open trophy. She achieved this despite needing to use a protected ranking after being out for most of 2017 before her triumph at Flushing Meadows.
2018 was another very good year for the American. Stephens secured a first WTA 1000 title in Miami by beating Jelena Ostapenko in the final. A few months later, she reached her second Grand Slam final at the French Open but lost a very tight contest to Simona Halep.
Stephens also progressed to the final of the WTA 1000 in Montreal and the final of the 2018 WTA Finals in Singapore. Unfortunately for her, both ended in narrow defeats to Simona Halep in Montreal and to Elina Svitolina at the WTA Finals.
The American has not been able to replicate that level of success since. Three Grand Slam quarterfinals and one WTA 250 title in Mexico represent her biggest triumphs after 2018, as of the 2024 Australian Open.
