"I had literally never seen her before": How Sloane Stephens survived

Tennis Channel considers Sloane Stephens' US Open title defense from Flushing Meadows

NEW YORK—“She mishit the ball!” Sloane Stephens moaned, turning toward her player box. A few seconds earlier, she had watched as a backhand struck by her opponent, 134th-ranked Anhelina Kalinina, had sailed unsteadily over the net, threatened to float into the doubles alley, and finally touched down on the outside of the sideline for an unlikely winner.

It was just the latest indignity suffered by the defending US Open champion on a frustratingly hot day, in a match with a frustratingly stubborn player. Stephens had spent much of it with her hands on her hips, shaking her head, staring at her coach, rolling her eyes toward the sky, and taking as many deep breaths as possible so she wouldn’t completely lose her mind. For Sloane, the nightmare scenario—an unknown opponent with nothing to lose smacking winners past her left and right—appeared to be coming true.

“I had literally never seen her before,” Stephens said. “Like, when I walked on court, I was, like, ‘OK, that’s who that is.’”

From the start, the match had felt like an ambush. A rangy 5’10”, the 21-year-old Kalinina wasn’t as fast or as polished or as steady as Stephens, but she had the edge in one very important department: power. Kalinina’s service motion is shaky and she struggles on defense, but she can take a long, helicoptering swing on her forehand and pummel the ball into either corner, and she can do the same when she takes her backhand on the rise. Before Sloane knew who or what had hit her, Kalinina was up 4-1, and she eventually held on to win the first set 6-4.

“My first-round match, I was nervous. Today, I was a bit nervous,” Stephens said. “I think nervous in general I guess getting back in Ashe for the first time. I was a little bit, you know, uneasy.”

Photos by Anita Aguilar

Now the question was upon us: How deep could a nervous and uneasy Sloane dig? In her past life, the one she lived until her run to the US Open title last year, Stephens had been described many ways: talented, smooth, funny, charismatic, a born star. But as far as I remember, Queen of the Comebacks wasn’t among her nicknames. Generally, when she didn’t have it, she didn’t have it, and she was as liable to lose in the first round of any given event as she was to win the whole thing.

Her weekly roller-coaster ride had continued even after her breakthrough at Flushing Meadows. Over the last three months, Stephens has reached the final of the French Open, lost in the first round at Wimbledon, reached the final in Montreal, and lost in the second round in D.C. and Cincinnati.

But for her, the US Open was different. Stephens had been pointing to her title defense here all season. If there was one stage she didn’t want to take a swan dive off, it was this one. But when Kalinina came back from 1-4 down in the second set, and reached break point with Stephens serving at 5-6, Sloane had reached the edge of disaster. Kalinina was in a powerful groove again, and if she won one more point, Stephens would have to play a tiebreaker to stay in the match—a dicey situation on the best of days.

On break point, Kalinina pushed Stephens well behind the baseline again, forcing Sloane to launch a crosscourt forehand that curved high in the air and briefly appeared to be sailing long—I think Sloane even stopped for a millisecond, thinking that it was heading out.

Instead, a potentially bad shot turned into a very good one, as the ball plummeted into the corner. Kalinina couldn’t handle it, and Stephens was back at deuce. Soon she had won the second set, and by the middle of the third she had finally shaken free of her pesky opponent. In the end, Sloane finished with more winners, 31 to 24, and won 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in a sweaty two hours and 46 minutes.

“She was playing really well,” Stephens said. “I just kind of had to weather the storm and wait for my opportunities. Obviously I wish I could have been playing a little better.”

“But I just found a way today, and sometimes it’s not going to be the best, but you’ve got to battle through.”

That has been the question all year for Stephens: Can she turn herself, at age 25, from a talented player into a gritty one? If things aren’t going well for her, can she will them to go better? Today, with the prospect of ceding her US Open crown staring her in the face, Sloane found a way.

The thing about majors is, though, you have to keep finding a way every other day. Sloane will need to do it again on Friday against a two-time finalist here, Victoria Azarenka, who earlier today had no trouble with 25th-seeded Daria Gavrilova.

We found out today that Stephens can fend off an unknown player with nothing to lose. Now we’ll see if she can do the same against someone she knows very well, and who is every bit as stubborn.

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