If you had said last month that Sloane Stephens would be the United States Open champion, you鈥檇 have been laughed off as an ignorant fool. Back then, she was ranked 957th in the world, fresh off two first-round defeats, including in Wimbledon following an 11-month break from active competition due to injury. Yet, that鈥檚 precisely what she did, gaining momentum on the strength of semifinal-round appearances in Toronto and Cincinnati before heading to New York.
Not that you didn鈥檛 have cause for confidence in Stephens鈥 capacity to run the table at Flushing Meadows. After all, she possessed the kind of transcendent talent that put her in the spotlight when she checked her amateur status in 2011. That said, her record through her first three seasons as a pro was middling at best. And when she finally looked on her way to living up to expectations last year, she wound up needing surgery to repair a stress fracture in her left foot. In other words, she didn鈥檛 exactly bear the credentials befitting of a pre-tournament favorite.
If there鈥檚 anything Stephens didn鈥檛 lack despite all her troubles, however, its self-assurance, and that鈥檚 probably what made you believe in her capacity to claim the last fortnight. Certainly, it鈥檚 what she relied on in surviving four three-set matches en route to the title, among them a Round-of-Eight third-set tie-break against Anastasija Sevastova and a semifinal-round thriller against ninth-seed Venus Williams, who at one instance was two points from victory.
Considering how Stephens got noticeably better as the US Open progressed, her triumph in the final, however lopsided, was no longer a surprise. She proved to be a picture of calm, with no trace of nerves that seemingly overwhelm those unfamiliar with pressure from the sport鈥檚 grandest stages. She rose to the occasion, and though her ranking will be in the twenties when the Women鈥檚 Tennis Association updates its list this week, you can contend with your head held high that she deserves to be lumped with the best of the best — and for some time to come. She has arrived, and how.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since 大象传媒 introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.
