This interview is sooooo bad.
Is Sloane Stephens the Future of American Tennis?
With a personality as big as her on-court game, tennis phenom Sloane Stephens will have all eyes on her at the U.S. Open.
We’ve all witnessed it, that moment when a star is born: Gwyneth Paltrow as the picture of youthful promise, accepting her best-actress Oscar in 1999 in that blush pink Ralph Lauren Disney-princess gown; Madonna in a deconstructed wedding dress performing “Like a Virgin†at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards; the first sight of Lena Dunham’s radically normal naked body in Girls. There’s something life affirming about watching someone ordinaryish become extraordinary before your eyes.
Tennis fans most recently experienced this in the January 2013 quarterfinals of the Australian Open, when a then 19-year-old up-and-comer from south Florida named Sloane Stephens beat Serena Williams, the reigning queen of tennis and 17-time Grand Slam champion.
Overnight Stephens was cast as Williams’ heiress apparent and the leader of a promising group of young female players who represent—at a time when this country’s male tennis prospects are few—the immediate future hopes of an entire nation’s fans. “That put her on the map worldwide,†says Mary Joe Fernandez, a former player and captain of the United States Women’s Fed Cup team, for which Stephens plays. “If you have a big win or get far in a major, then all of the sudden it’s instant recognition.†Or, as the blunt commentator and former player Mary Carillo put it on-camera: “Serena’s 32, you’re 21—let’s see it!â€
Stephens’ raw tennis skills are extraordinary. Armed with a combination of what insiders call “easy power†and extreme speed and athleticism, she has the kind of game that can trouble big-hitting alphas like Williams because she’s able to transition from defense to offense so easily. Her famous winning match was an emotionally volatile one; Williams took an injury time-out after the second set and was cited for racket abuse at one point, but Stephens maintained her composure. She absorbed and redirected the thundering Williams’ body blows, came to the net with the timing and sophistication of a much more experienced player, and generally disrupted the veteran’s rhythm. At moments, Stephens seemed to alter reality like all the greats do when they’re in the zone: The court grows smaller, the ball fatter and slower on their side of the net. And the look on Stephens’ face when she won was one of such pure, innocent joy that it’s still in rotation on the loop of the Tennis Channel’s inspirational clips.
In the wake of that match, Stephens became more than just a promising teenager with killer ground strokes: She became a celebrity in training. Stephens’ Twitter numbers doubled (she now has more than 80,000 followers), and among the hundreds of messages she received were ones from John Legend and Shaquille O’Neal, who told her: “When u defeat a legend, you become a legend. Keep it going.â€
When I arrive in Los Angeles to meet this newly anointed princess of American tennis (she’s now ranked No. 2 among U.S. women), I’m at some level expecting Grace Kelly; instead, I get Cher Horowitz. Stephens is sitting in the passenger seat of her brand-new black Range Rover, with her boyfriend, fellow tennis hotshot Jack Sock, at the wheel. They’re en route to the Staples Center to see the Lakers play the Clippers. “I saw my gyno today, and she’s like, ‘I can’t wait for Indian Wells,’ †Stephens says. Indian Wells, for the uninitiated, is a major tennis tournament in Southern California in March, and Stephens’ doctor, it seems, is also one of her ardent fans. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! She’s looking in my vajay!’ â€
Suddenly I remember that Sloane Stephens is not some WTA-boardroom prototype. She’s an unformed, hyperactive, outspoken kid, one who suffered a series of formative losses before she turned 16. Returning to the topic of gynecology, she asks me if I, too, got the Gardasil shots to prevent HPV infection. “My arm is so sore!†she cries, before adding that she’s hoping her NuvaRing prescription will control the erratic periods that troubled her on tour last year. Stephens turns to Sock. “I didn’t tell you I got the ring, did I?†She flashes her glittering smile and punches him affectionately.
“Awesome,†he croaks.
Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love for You†comes on the radio, and Stephens jacks up the volume, singing along. “I, like, love Whitney,†she says, sighing.
After beating Serena Williams at the Australian Open in 2013, Sloane Stephens became the hope for the future of American tennis. But since then her play has been spotty, and her inscrutability on court has infuriated even her supporters. Her next chance to prove herself? The U.S. Open, beginning later this month.
It was during a Lakers game several months earlier that Stephens realized with a jolt how much her life had changed in the past year. She’d gone with a girlfriend, and, in classic millennial fashion, the two were celebrating their IRL togetherness by tweeting at each other about the action. At halftime, when they went back to a VIP area to hang out, Stephens was approached by a fan—of hers. “This girl came up and was like, ‘I drove from my house just to see you,’ †she recalls. “Her dad works in the [Lakers’] head office. She’s like, ‘I’m your biggest fan, and I saw on Twitter that you were here, so I came by.’ †Stephens clearly enjoys the perks of her new fame but also seems creeped out by the intensity of the attention: “Now I’m nervous about tweeting and posting on Instagram.†Last year near her birthday she was in Miami for a tournament. “Somebody sent me a dildo,†
she says incredulously. “It was hand delivered to the hotel.â€
Things like this didn’t happen before Stephens started winning big matches (of the roughly $2.7 million she’s earned in prize money, $1.5 million came in 2013), before her sponsorship career took off (she’s an American Express global ambassador, a Listerine “Healthy Smiles†representative, and an Under Armour spokesmodel, among other such gigs), or, for the most part, before she upset Williams. But in the roughly 18 months since then, Stephens has struggled. Her international ranking has plateaued at 19, and she plays focused, inspired tennis one week, appears listless and uninterested the next. Off court she’s similarly mercurial, alternately charming and petulant.
In the three days I spend with Stephens in L.A. during a rare break in her training, her diva side is hard to miss. She’s just gotten out of the shower when I arrive one afternoon at the modest Spanish-style home she shares with her mom, Sybil Smith, and younger brother, Shawn, a talented high school baseball player. Stephens is having a hard time figuring out what to wear to an appointment with her agents at Lagardère Unlimited. By the time she’s thrown on a pair of her mom’s black leggings and gotten in her car, we’re running late. “Oh my God, traffic! I’m going to kill them. I hate traffic. I hate it.†The them here are the aforementioned agents, who recently moved into new offices. “The other office was liter-ally five minutes away. This is the first and probably last time I’ll be here.â€
During lunch at a prefab Argentine steak house, Stephens perks up. She considers herself a Scandal expert, and Khloé is her favorite Kardashian, because she seems “more genuine.†But back at Lagardère, when she’s asked to sign gear for an upcoming United States Tennis Association kids’ day event, she’s clearly in no mood. She sits down at a conference table and begins to autograph a stack of visors, flinging each one across the room like a Frisbee as she goes. “I’m not signing those wristbands, I hope you know,†she announces, breaking the awkward silence that has settled over the room. Soon, Stephens declares she’s done. “I’m not signing any more. There’s not that many kids in the world.â€
When I ask in the car on the way home what gifts Sock has given her thus far in their year-plus relationship, she says, “Pretty much anything I want.†Then she volunteers that though she and rival Caroline Wozniacki wear earrings with the same size diamonds, Stephens “paid way less†for hers, which are “almost perfect†stones. “[Wozniacki] got ripped off.†As for her education, “I got the college experience without going to college. I don’t miss it. When my friends are like, ‘I’m going to class,’ I’m like, ‘I’m going to take a nap.’ †While the reporter in me might be expected to consider it a score to witness this kind of unscripted attitude—an inside look at the real Sloane!—I feel a mix of discomfort and skepticism. Discomfort because her behavior triggers memories of my own selfish adolescent moments, and skepticism because I don’t fully buy the cartoonish brattiness. It seems like some kind of unconscious ploy to put people at a distance, to keep expectations low.
Stephens’ superior athletic skills are deeply woven into her DNA. Her mother was a swimming star at Boston University—the first black female swimmer in NCAA Division 1 history to be named a First-Team All-American—and her father, John Stephens, was a New England Patriots running back, a first-round draft pick in 1988. Although a star rookie, early in his second season Stephens was involved in a tackle that left another player partially paralyzed. He never got his groove back, and not long after his daughter was born in 1993, he split with Smith and retired from the NFL. When Stephens was two, her mom decided to move back to her native Fresno, California, and soon married a businessman named Sheldon Farrell. A passionate recreational tennis player, he introduced his stepdaughter to the sport when she was nine: “I’d ride my bike across the street and hit against the wall. I did summer camps and stuff,†she recalls. She wasn’t obsessed with tennis—it was more “something to do,†she says—but it was immediately clear that the girl had a gift.
http://www.elle.com/life-love/society-c ... -profile-4
Is Sloane Stephens the Future of American Tennis?
With a personality as big as her on-court game, tennis phenom Sloane Stephens will have all eyes on her at the U.S. Open.
We’ve all witnessed it, that moment when a star is born: Gwyneth Paltrow as the picture of youthful promise, accepting her best-actress Oscar in 1999 in that blush pink Ralph Lauren Disney-princess gown; Madonna in a deconstructed wedding dress performing “Like a Virgin†at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards; the first sight of Lena Dunham’s radically normal naked body in Girls. There’s something life affirming about watching someone ordinaryish become extraordinary before your eyes.
Tennis fans most recently experienced this in the January 2013 quarterfinals of the Australian Open, when a then 19-year-old up-and-comer from south Florida named Sloane Stephens beat Serena Williams, the reigning queen of tennis and 17-time Grand Slam champion.
Overnight Stephens was cast as Williams’ heiress apparent and the leader of a promising group of young female players who represent—at a time when this country’s male tennis prospects are few—the immediate future hopes of an entire nation’s fans. “That put her on the map worldwide,†says Mary Joe Fernandez, a former player and captain of the United States Women’s Fed Cup team, for which Stephens plays. “If you have a big win or get far in a major, then all of the sudden it’s instant recognition.†Or, as the blunt commentator and former player Mary Carillo put it on-camera: “Serena’s 32, you’re 21—let’s see it!â€
Stephens’ raw tennis skills are extraordinary. Armed with a combination of what insiders call “easy power†and extreme speed and athleticism, she has the kind of game that can trouble big-hitting alphas like Williams because she’s able to transition from defense to offense so easily. Her famous winning match was an emotionally volatile one; Williams took an injury time-out after the second set and was cited for racket abuse at one point, but Stephens maintained her composure. She absorbed and redirected the thundering Williams’ body blows, came to the net with the timing and sophistication of a much more experienced player, and generally disrupted the veteran’s rhythm. At moments, Stephens seemed to alter reality like all the greats do when they’re in the zone: The court grows smaller, the ball fatter and slower on their side of the net. And the look on Stephens’ face when she won was one of such pure, innocent joy that it’s still in rotation on the loop of the Tennis Channel’s inspirational clips.
In the wake of that match, Stephens became more than just a promising teenager with killer ground strokes: She became a celebrity in training. Stephens’ Twitter numbers doubled (she now has more than 80,000 followers), and among the hundreds of messages she received were ones from John Legend and Shaquille O’Neal, who told her: “When u defeat a legend, you become a legend. Keep it going.â€
When I arrive in Los Angeles to meet this newly anointed princess of American tennis (she’s now ranked No. 2 among U.S. women), I’m at some level expecting Grace Kelly; instead, I get Cher Horowitz. Stephens is sitting in the passenger seat of her brand-new black Range Rover, with her boyfriend, fellow tennis hotshot Jack Sock, at the wheel. They’re en route to the Staples Center to see the Lakers play the Clippers. “I saw my gyno today, and she’s like, ‘I can’t wait for Indian Wells,’ †Stephens says. Indian Wells, for the uninitiated, is a major tennis tournament in Southern California in March, and Stephens’ doctor, it seems, is also one of her ardent fans. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! She’s looking in my vajay!’ â€
Suddenly I remember that Sloane Stephens is not some WTA-boardroom prototype. She’s an unformed, hyperactive, outspoken kid, one who suffered a series of formative losses before she turned 16. Returning to the topic of gynecology, she asks me if I, too, got the Gardasil shots to prevent HPV infection. “My arm is so sore!†she cries, before adding that she’s hoping her NuvaRing prescription will control the erratic periods that troubled her on tour last year. Stephens turns to Sock. “I didn’t tell you I got the ring, did I?†She flashes her glittering smile and punches him affectionately.
“Awesome,†he croaks.
Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love for You†comes on the radio, and Stephens jacks up the volume, singing along. “I, like, love Whitney,†she says, sighing.
After beating Serena Williams at the Australian Open in 2013, Sloane Stephens became the hope for the future of American tennis. But since then her play has been spotty, and her inscrutability on court has infuriated even her supporters. Her next chance to prove herself? The U.S. Open, beginning later this month.
It was during a Lakers game several months earlier that Stephens realized with a jolt how much her life had changed in the past year. She’d gone with a girlfriend, and, in classic millennial fashion, the two were celebrating their IRL togetherness by tweeting at each other about the action. At halftime, when they went back to a VIP area to hang out, Stephens was approached by a fan—of hers. “This girl came up and was like, ‘I drove from my house just to see you,’ †she recalls. “Her dad works in the [Lakers’] head office. She’s like, ‘I’m your biggest fan, and I saw on Twitter that you were here, so I came by.’ †Stephens clearly enjoys the perks of her new fame but also seems creeped out by the intensity of the attention: “Now I’m nervous about tweeting and posting on Instagram.†Last year near her birthday she was in Miami for a tournament. “Somebody sent me a dildo,†
she says incredulously. “It was hand delivered to the hotel.â€
Things like this didn’t happen before Stephens started winning big matches (of the roughly $2.7 million she’s earned in prize money, $1.5 million came in 2013), before her sponsorship career took off (she’s an American Express global ambassador, a Listerine “Healthy Smiles†representative, and an Under Armour spokesmodel, among other such gigs), or, for the most part, before she upset Williams. But in the roughly 18 months since then, Stephens has struggled. Her international ranking has plateaued at 19, and she plays focused, inspired tennis one week, appears listless and uninterested the next. Off court she’s similarly mercurial, alternately charming and petulant.
In the three days I spend with Stephens in L.A. during a rare break in her training, her diva side is hard to miss. She’s just gotten out of the shower when I arrive one afternoon at the modest Spanish-style home she shares with her mom, Sybil Smith, and younger brother, Shawn, a talented high school baseball player. Stephens is having a hard time figuring out what to wear to an appointment with her agents at Lagardère Unlimited. By the time she’s thrown on a pair of her mom’s black leggings and gotten in her car, we’re running late. “Oh my God, traffic! I’m going to kill them. I hate traffic. I hate it.†The them here are the aforementioned agents, who recently moved into new offices. “The other office was liter-ally five minutes away. This is the first and probably last time I’ll be here.â€
During lunch at a prefab Argentine steak house, Stephens perks up. She considers herself a Scandal expert, and Khloé is her favorite Kardashian, because she seems “more genuine.†But back at Lagardère, when she’s asked to sign gear for an upcoming United States Tennis Association kids’ day event, she’s clearly in no mood. She sits down at a conference table and begins to autograph a stack of visors, flinging each one across the room like a Frisbee as she goes. “I’m not signing those wristbands, I hope you know,†she announces, breaking the awkward silence that has settled over the room. Soon, Stephens declares she’s done. “I’m not signing any more. There’s not that many kids in the world.â€
When I ask in the car on the way home what gifts Sock has given her thus far in their year-plus relationship, she says, “Pretty much anything I want.†Then she volunteers that though she and rival Caroline Wozniacki wear earrings with the same size diamonds, Stephens “paid way less†for hers, which are “almost perfect†stones. “[Wozniacki] got ripped off.†As for her education, “I got the college experience without going to college. I don’t miss it. When my friends are like, ‘I’m going to class,’ I’m like, ‘I’m going to take a nap.’ †While the reporter in me might be expected to consider it a score to witness this kind of unscripted attitude—an inside look at the real Sloane!—I feel a mix of discomfort and skepticism. Discomfort because her behavior triggers memories of my own selfish adolescent moments, and skepticism because I don’t fully buy the cartoonish brattiness. It seems like some kind of unconscious ploy to put people at a distance, to keep expectations low.
Stephens’ superior athletic skills are deeply woven into her DNA. Her mother was a swimming star at Boston University—the first black female swimmer in NCAA Division 1 history to be named a First-Team All-American—and her father, John Stephens, was a New England Patriots running back, a first-round draft pick in 1988. Although a star rookie, early in his second season Stephens was involved in a tackle that left another player partially paralyzed. He never got his groove back, and not long after his daughter was born in 1993, he split with Smith and retired from the NFL. When Stephens was two, her mom decided to move back to her native Fresno, California, and soon married a businessman named Sheldon Farrell. A passionate recreational tennis player, he introduced his stepdaughter to the sport when she was nine: “I’d ride my bike across the street and hit against the wall. I did summer camps and stuff,†she recalls. She wasn’t obsessed with tennis—it was more “something to do,†she says—but it was immediately clear that the girl had a gift.
http://www.elle.com/life-love/society-c ... -profile-4
