Sloane Stephens prevailed at the U.S. Open. And she continued to respect her competitor.
‘Snaps for me’
Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Chuck Culpepper.
On Saturday at the U.S. Open, Sloane Stephens won her first Grand Slam title after defeating fellow American Madison Keys. The 24-year-old looked magical on the court: Stephens had just six unforced errors compared to 30 for Keys.
The newly minted U.S. Open champion could barely believe it when someone told her at a news conference.
“I made six unforced errors in the whole match?” Told yes, she said, “Shut the front door! I don’t think that ever happened to me before. Oh my god. That’s a stat. Snaps for me.”
After her 6–3, 6–0 win over Keys, 22, Stephens approached the net to embrace her friend. Their hug lasted 19 seconds, the video indicates.
It only deepened the idea that Stephens is a world-class hugger.
After all, it was Stephens who forged a robust four-second hug in a circumstance that hardly could be more different, at a third round Wimbledon match in 2016. Stephens was up against Svetlana Kuznetsova, and she was losing.
Down to her last morsel of hope, she challenged a line call just after match point. Kuznetsova turned around to watch the video, which showed the call had been accurate, and that Kuznetsova had won, 6–7 (7–1), 6–2, 8–6.
She turned back around to find Stephens with her arms wide open. An excellent hug ensued, followed by Kuznetsova imploring the crowd, as it applauded the winner per custom, to applaud Stephens, as well.
“I wouldn’t say I think about what I’m going to do when I lose, but I think it’s just something that I like to see, when other people gracefully take their loss, or whatever you might want to call it,” Stephens said after the match against Kuznetsova. “I think that’s part of competition, and I think that’s part of being an extreme competitor. And some people aren’t like that. Some people are very angry. Some people don’t really care after they lose. There’s just so many different types of people. But I think for myself, personally, ‘You played awesome today. You made me better. You made me raise my level.’ I have respect for her, and her game, respect for the game of tennis. There’s no negative to take away from what happened today.”
Stephens makes her mark
In 2013, Stephens made a splash on the tennis scene at the Australian Open, where she beat Serena Williams to advance to the semifinals. But a subsequent foot surgery put Stephens on the sidelines for 11 months. Her ranking dropped to No. 957.
Stephens returned to the circuit this year in time for Wimbledon, where she lost to Alison Riske in the first round. When the U.S. Open began on Aug. 28, she was ranked 83rd.
But Stephens prevailed. She even beat the formidable Venus Williams to reach the final match against Keys, who was ranked No. 15 at the time of the championship.
“When I had surgery, I was not thinking that I would be anywhere near a U.S. Open title,” Stephens said on Saturday. “Nor did I think I was going to be anywhere near the top 100.”
Stephens almost couldn’t believe what had happened.
“How insane,” she said. “I actually won the U.S. Open.”
Asked in a rollicking news conference whether the title had fed her hunger for another, she wisecracked, “Of course, girl. Did you see that check [$3.7 million] that lady handed me? Man, if that doesn’t make you want to play tennis, I don’t know what will. Man.”
