Sloane Stephens reflected upon her journey after reaching the first major final of her career, noting how much she’s grown in the past few years.
Stephens beat Venus Williams in three sets in their semifinal match Thursday to advance to the finals at the US Open. This is the farthest Stephens has advanced in a major since she reached the semis of the Australian Open in 2013. In between the deep major runs, Stephens experienced a dropoff in play and then a foot injury that derailed her.
After beating Williams, Stephens was interviewed by ESPN’s crew and was asked by analyst Brad Gilbert what’s different about her now from 2013.
“I was a baby then,” Stephens said. “I was still learning. I was still afraid to go into the locker room. I was afraid to go into the training room. I was just so timid and scared.
“I think now a lot of life has happened and I’ve grown a lot as a person. And I’ve been through a lot.”
Stephens has gone through a lot. The 24-year-old missed so much action after foot surgery that she fell to a ranking of 934 in the world, though that will change quickly.
Like she said, she’s older and more mature now. When you couple her run at the US Open with what she did in Montreal and Cincinnati, and it appears as if Stephens is back on track.
