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Despite Match, and Year, of Ups and Downs, Stephens Stays Poised Stephens Rides Out An Early Stumble
(about 4 hours later)
PARIS — She has beaten the world’s top tennis player to make the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. She is one of the top 20 players at 20 years old. A day before the French Open, Melanie Oudin said she thought that if five American women made it to the second week of the tournament, it could be considered a success. That number seemed outrageously high then, given the well-documented discomfort of Americans on clay and the perception that the women’s ranks consist of Serena Williams and, well, almost nobody else.
She is Sloane Stephens, who never imagined achieving those milestones so quickly after losing to Samantha Stosur in the fourth round of last year’s French Open. Fifteen American women made the main draw at Roland Garros, some so little known that they might have needed name tags. But Oudin’s forecast was surprisingly close, even though she did not get near the second week. On Saturday, three American women advanced to the fourth round to join Williams. It is the first time since the 2004 United States Open that four American women reached the Round of 16 in a Grand Slam tournament.
Stephens probably could not have imagined, either, that she would make intemperate comments about No. 1 Serena Williams that necessitated an uneasy public truce. Or that after she stunned Williams at the Australian Open in January, she would not win three matches in a row in another tournament until now. That year, the group was made up of the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena; Lindsay Davenport; and Jennifer Capriati. Serena carries on, but the most promising sign is the relative youth of the other remaining American women. Two of this year’s four were born in the 1990s. Twelve American women are in the top 100, and nine of them were born in the 1990s. Eleven more Americans are ranked 101 to 200, and seven of them were born in the 1990s.
No less an expert than Chris Evert said that beating the No. 1 player had taken a toll on Stephens’s results. If her recent tournaments battered her confidence, the fallout from her comments — Stephens said Williams had ignored her since the Australian Open and suggested that Williams’s public persona was phony — may have raised her guard. That the 20-year-old Sloane Stephens, ranked 17th in the world, is in the Round of 16 is no surprise. She stunned Williams in the Australian Open quarterfinals and she is regarded as a contender to crack the top 10. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who is 28 and ranked 67th, eliminated the former French Open champion Li Na here before taking out the qualifier Paula Ormaechea on Saturday.
But on Saturday at Roland Garros, Stephens defeated Marina Erakovic, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3. The match had its ups and downs — Stephens led the second-set tiebreaker by 3-0 and 4-2 before losing it, and Erakovic challenged her with long rallies and a solid forehand — yet Stephens’s self-assuredness seemed to be soaring anyway. Jamie Hampton, who is ranked 54th, produced the greatest victory of her career Saturday, upsetting seventh-seeded Petra Kvitova, 6-1, 7-6 (7).
She may not have the magical power to make boys seem less stupid — that is one thing she would like to change — but Stephens is back in the fourth round of her favorite tournament, and that is good enough. Oudin said Hampton’s run to the semifinals in a French Open warm-up tournament in Brussels was a sign that American women were becoming increasingly proficient on clay. At 23, Hampton, like Stephens, suggests a future beyond Serena Williams that might not be as bleak as once thought. The only country that regularly rivals the United States is Russia, which has eight women in the top 100 and nine more from 101 to 200; of those 17 players, five were born in the 1990s.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with tennis,” Stephens said of her relaxed mood. “I think it’s just I’m really enjoying myself off the court. I mean, more shopping, like every day I’m buying stuff. People don’t understand, like, at 20 years old I can do whatever I want. So I think I just had to realize that again.” “It’s awesome,” Mattek-Sands said. “I’m so happy that U.S. tennis is coming on strong. I think there are a lot of girls playing great. I think there are a lot of young guns coming up that will be dangerous. I’m proud.”
American players often dread the French Open because of their inexperience on clay — Madison Keys and Melanie Oudin, who lost in doubles on Friday, were giddy at the prospect of starting the grass season — but Stephens fell in love with Paris when she came here as a junior player. Most of the attention has fallen on Stephens. She would never have imagined that she would rise so quickly after losing in the fourth round to Samantha Stosur last year at Roland Garros. But Stephens has also seen the downside of being labeled the next great one.
She delights in her daily shopping sprees, and she makes sure to stop at Häagen-Dazs for macadamia nut brittle, a flavor she wants the company to distribute in the United States, too. She said she had realized that even when French people say they do not understand English, they really do. She would like to take the Eiffel Tower home to Los Angeles with her, she said. She would probably not have imagined the publicity generated by intemperate comments she made about the top-ranked Williams, whom she defeated at the Australian Open in January. But Stephens did not win three matches in a row in another tournament until now. No less an expert than Chris Evert said that beating the No. 1 player had taken a toll on Stephens. If her recent tournaments battered her confidence, the fallout from her comments — she said Williams had ignored her since the Australian Open and suggested that Williams’s public persona was phony — may have raised her guard.
Another American, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, might start to feel the same way about Paris soon. She followed Stephens on Court 1, and she, too, advanced to the fourth round with a topsy-turvy 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over the qualifier Paula Ormaechea. But on Saturday, Stephens defeated Marina Erakovic, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3. The match had its ups and downs — Stephens led the second set tiebreaker by 3-0 and 4-2 before losing it, and Erakovic challenged her with long rallies and a solid forehand — yet Stephens’s self-assuredness seemed to be soaring anyway. She may not be able to magically make boys seem less stupid — that is one thing she said she would like to change if she had the power — but Stephens is back in the fourth round of her favorite tournament, and that is good enough.
Mattek-Sands’s career has been dotted by injuries, but she knocked out the 2011 French Open champion, Li Na, here in reaching her second Round of 16 in a Grand Slam tournament. Her first was in 2008 at Wimbledon, where she lost to Williams. “I don’t think it has anything to do with tennis,” Stephens said of her relaxed mood. “I think it’s just I’m really enjoying myself off the court. I mean, more shopping; like every day I’m buying stuff. People don’t understand, like at 20 years old I can do whatever I want. So I think I just had to realize that again.”
That was not the only ground that was broken Saturday. With his victory over Benoit Paire, who was assessed a point penalty for receiving coaching during the match, Kei Nishikori became the first Japanese man since 1938 to make the French Open Round of 16. Stephens fell in love with Paris when she came here as a junior player. She delights in her daily shopping sprees and makes sure to stop at Häagen-Dazs for macadamia nut brittle. She said she realized that even when French people say they do not understand English, they really do. She would like to take the Eiffel Tower home to Los Angeles.
Williams, 31, and Mattek-Sands, who is 28 and ranked 67th, represent the older guard of a charge by American women here. Fifteen made the main draw. Stephens, ranked 17th, is viewed as part of the future. Mattek-Sands might soon feel the same way about Paris. She followed Stephens on Court 1 and advanced with a topsy-turvy 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Ormaechea. Mattek-Sands reached her second Round of 16 in a Grand Slam tournament.
Evert expressed concern that Stephens’s victory over Williams in Australia might have come before she was fully ready for such a breakthrough, and the attention and pressure it brought. Exhibit A would be the aftermath of Oudin’s run, at age 17, to the quarterfinals of the 2009 United States Open. So little was expected of her that she is one of the few players here who do not have a clothing endorsement. She joked that she was open to clothing offers. But she said she had always been serious about tennis.
Stephens, who appears in the June issue of Vogue, seems most comfortable, and performs her best, in the biggest tournaments. Last year, she said she would be disappointed if she did not win the French Open within 10 years. On Saturday, she offered an update: she feels that with each Grand Slam event she plays, she is getting closer. “I’m not that surprised that I can do it,” Mattek-Sands said. “I have always believed I can. I believed I had the game.”
“Yeah, I love Grand Slams,” she said. “Everyone asks me, ‘Do you think because it’s a Grand Slam you want to do better?’ Not really. I mean, I’ve just always had really good results at Grand Slams. I think maybe it’s more money or something, I don’t know, more points.” “That’s why you work so hard,” she added, “to get these chances to play at the big stadiums against the big players.”
Stephens was joking about the money. But her love of the French will be tested in the next round, when she faces Maria Sharapova, who crushed her on clay in Rome, 6-2, 6-1 less than a month ago. Stephens seems to thrive at the biggest events. But these Americans in Paris may soon find the city of light turning darker. Williams is the favorite to win here, but the rest will face players ranked considerably higher. Stephens may have the toughest draw, against the defending champion, Maria Sharapova.
Stephens said she did not know when the real world would intrude on her joy ride. Sharapova could be the one.
“I don’t live in the real world, so I don’t know,” Stephens said. “But hopefully it never stops. I mean, there are no other 20-year-olds like me. Might be a few, like Miley Cyrus or something, but other than that I’m pretty much riding solo on this train.”“I don’t live in the real world, so I don’t know,” Stephens said. “But hopefully it never stops. I mean, there are no other 20-year-olds like me. Might be a few, like Miley Cyrus or something, but other than that I’m pretty much riding solo on this train.”
Stephens was asked if being her was fun. Her answer may say as much about the last week as it does about the last year.
“Always,” she said. “Every day. It’s a blast.”