In a sport like tennis, enjoying on the high degree for many years is hard, even for GOATs like Novak Djokovic or Serena Williams. However, there’s the 2017 US Open champion, Sloane Stephens, who has confronted the undisputed legends of the early 2000s, just like the Williams sisters, in addition to at the moment’s stars, like Coco Gauff. In a current interview, she opened up about her expertise throughout generations.
Sloane Stephens Breaks Down What Separates the Serena Williams Era From Coco Gauff’s Generation
When Stephens turned professional within the late 2000s, she was getting into an enviornment nonetheless managed by the very girls whose posters doubtless hung on her bed room partitions.
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“When I first came on tour, it was different,” Stephens stated in her interview with HATC magazine. “Venus and Serena [Williams] were still winning slams, and they were dominating the game. There were still players like Lindsay Davenport and Kim Clijsters, and people that I really looked up to and loved watching play.”
Stephens’s report vs. the 23-time Grand Slam champion is 1-6, with the lone profession victory coming in 2013 on the Australian Open quarterfinals, the place she, at simply 19 years outdated, stunningly gained 3–6, 7–5, 6–4. Stephens by no means had an opportunity to play in opposition to Davenport or Clijsters in an official match.
She additionally added that the sport has modified loads since then, having performed in opposition to the younger technology.
“As I’ve gotten older, there’s a completely new set of girls. Coco Gauff and the younger girls, like Marta Kostyuk. It’s so interesting to see because the game has developed and changed so much in terms of power and athleticism; even the balls have changed,” she famous.
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In the 2 matches she has performed in opposition to Gauff, Stephens gained the primary one within the 2021 US Open, and the present World No. 4 defeated her within the 2022 French Open quarterfinals.
“I’ve been able to experience all of tennis, which has been nice and just super cool, because a lot of people can’t say they have played against Serena but also played against Coco,” Stephens concluded.
The former World No. 3’s profession has been marked by frequent accidents and inconsistent kind. In 2025, she was absent from court docket due to a foot damage and performed simply six matches. But that did not cease the 33-year-old from constructing a prolific broadcasting profession, launching a podcast, and supporting younger gamers via her Sloane Stephens Foundation, for which TIME journal put her on the TIME 100 Philanthropy listing.
