Sloane Stephens is not the youngest anymore, but she's pretty content with the way her career unfolded, even though she missed out on some things.
The American player was touted as a really talented player as she was coming through tennis, and she certainly proved that with some early success. She won her first trophy at age 21 and then added a few more in the coming years.
By the time Stephens turned 24, she already had six trophies to her name and a 6-0 record in WTA Tour-level finals. The final two trophies were quite significant, the US Open in 2017 and the Miami Open in 2018.
Many assumed it was only the beginning, but she couldn't follow up on the early success. The next three finals were all losses, but it was still a very good year for her because she achieved her peak ranking of world number 3.
She never got to number one, but it's not a huge regret for her because she achieved more than she ever thought she would, and it was in Miami where she talked about her career.
"It's definitely been a journey in itself, and I think obviously when I started playing tennis I would have never even dreamed of winning a Grand Slam or being No. 3 in the world. I think I was playing because I really enjoyed it and I loved it."
"Somebody asked me this the other day, like, does it matter that you were never No. 1 in the world? I'm, like, absolutely not. I maxed out what I had, I won a Grand Slam, I had a great career-high ranking, played the Olympics, done all these amazing things."
It's good to see Stepehns be content with her career because she can certainly be happy around. On top of her success in singles in Miami, she also managed to turn the wild card she received with Ashlyn Krueger in doubles into a win over the fifth-seeded pair of Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula.
0 Comments