Sloane Stephens fulfilled her dream to win her favourite tournament in the tennis venue, where everything bagan.
Sloane Stephens crowned a perfect Miami tournament with her first Premier Mandatory title in Miami after beating Jelena Ostapenko 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 in the final. For the 24-year-old the Miami triumph in front of her family and friends was the perfect farewell to Crandon Park.
The Miami Open will be relocated from Crandon Park to the Hard Rock Stadium (the venue of the Miami Dolphins NFL team) next year and for Stephens her triumph was the perfect way to say goodbye to tennis courts, where her career began.
Stephens has become the fifth US player to win the Miami tournament following in the footsteps of legends Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and sisters Venus and Serena Williams.
“I grew up playing tennis here. Obviously this place is pretty special to me. When the USTA was here, we played Orange Bowl and all sorts of tournaments here. I am definitely happy that I could be the last person to win here. I have had some amazing experiences here, and I will definitely miss it, but I will definitely miss it. I just feel fortunate that I was able to do that here in South Florida with all my friends and family watching. It’s pretty awesome. Obviously I did not start the year off great, so to have a good result here is really important”, said Stephens to WTA Insider.
Sloane Stephens came into the Miami Open with a record of just three wins in four tournament but she found her rhythm in the home tournament beating four consecutive Grand Slam champions Garbine Muguruza, Angelique Kerber, Viktoria Azarenka and Jelena Ostapenko en route to her first WTA Premier Mandatory title. With the second biggest title of her career after the 2017 US Open Stephens has maintained her perfect record winning her sixth WTA title in as many title matches.
“Everyone is complaining that I play the easiest players when I win a tournament and I don’t play anyone in the top 10. I beat four Grand Slam champions. That’s pretty incredible and I am really pleased with that”.
Stephens felt that beating Monica Niculescu in the first round was more difficult than playing against Grand Slam champions on Centre Court.
“I think that a lot of the work is done when there is no crowd and there is no one there and you are playing a player who is extremely difficult to play. Someone that chop you up at any point. It’s not easy. You work so hard during those matches to be able to play on Center Court against top three players in those great matches. I think the easy part is when you are playing on the Centre Court ! When you are playing someone like Monica, that’s when you really get pushed to your limits. Those types of things are the learning lessons that I need to be able to improve and get better and play my best tennis on the Centre Court”.
Stephens admitted that the injury at the start of 2017 has helped her change her perspective in tennis and life in general.
“When I was told that I had to undergo surgery, I thought that this was the end for me, as tennis was the only thing I was able to do. Injury gave me a new perspective on tennis and on life. I don’t think there is anything else I would rather be doing. I worked for Tennis Channel and I finished my studies at the University. I felt that I was able to do something else in my life apart from tennis. I felt that I had other goals and this has helped me see things in a different way”.
Sloane Stephens is looking forward to the next tournaments starting from the clay season.
“I have not played in Rome for the past two years. I am looking forward to this tournament. Clay is my favourite surface. I hope I will be able to continue playing well on clay”.
