Stephens Fights To Cope With Fame

Back in January, Sloane Stephens was being hailed as one of the brightest prospects in women’s tennis after her stunning win over Serena Williams at the Australian Open.

That victory took her into the semi-finals, making her the first US teenager to reach the last four of a grand slam since Serena at the 2001 US Open.

Stephens became an instant celebrity. She had 17,000 followers on Twitter before her match point against Serena and 35,000 an hour later. But with fame comes pressure and the American has struggled to cope with it since, or live up to expectations.Stephens, 20, has failed to win back-to-back matches at any tournament since the Australian Open, winning only two of her eight duels and getting a walkover past an injured Venus Williams in Miami.

The constant attention has put the world No 16 off her game. Back in February, after her first-round loss to Sorana Cirstea at the Dubai Tennis Championships, Stephens was asked if she was enjoying being the centre of attention.

“No, not really,” she said. “I wish you guys would all just forget about me and just let me do whatever. That’s obviously not going to happen. I’m definitely working with you guys and hanging in there.”

Stephens will have to do better than just “hanging in there” if she hopes to fulfill her potential.

She will have to learn to live with all this attention and, here, she could learn a few things from her idol, Serena.

Meanwhile, 31-year old Serena Williams is the world’s no. 1 ranked player but like most other people, the American had a hard time dealing with the fact that she turned 30 years old.

The 15 time grand slam champion, who has been playing some of the best tennis of her career in her 30s, told reporters in Miami, “Last year or the year before I was turning 30 and I panicked and thought I needed to get a really old car. Yeah, that was like a couple years ago, I think – so it was my mid-life crisis.

“I don’t know why, but that was my reaction. It was really hard for me to turn 30. I really struggled, and I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I don’t know why, but that’s what kind of came out of it. I have come to turns with being over 30 now, but getting there was really hard!”

Serena has won 71 of her last 75 matches since the beginning of the clay court season last year which includes titles at the Olympics, Wimbledon and the US Open. Serena has said she has no plans to retire anytime soon.