“I had a complete identity crisis”- Sloane Stephens opens about the struggles she faced after completing career goal with US Open triumph

August 28, 2025

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Sloane Stephens recently opened up about the struggles she faced after her success at the Grand Slam level. The former World No. 3 had her only Slam success at her home Major, winning the 2017 US Open.

Post her success at the Majors in 2017, Sloane Stephens had an impressive 2018 season, winning the WTA 1000 title in Miami and reaching her second Major final at the French Open, losing against Simona Halep. She qualified for the WTA Finals that year as well, losing against Elina Svitolina in the summit clash.

Post the 2018 season, Stephens had to wait for four years before winning another title. Inconsistent form and injuries pushed the American player out of the top of the WTA rankings. Talking about her career on a show called Breaking Barriers, she opened up about her goal of winning a Major, and the identity struggles she had to face once she achieved that goal.

"My goal was to win a Slam. This is the only thing to do and when it happened I was like, what happens after this and I had a complete identity crisis" said Stephens

Sloane Stephen's last on-court match was at the Merida Open, where she lost against Petra Martic in the first round. Her last Grand Slam appearance was the Australian Open this year, where she was handily beaten by Aryna Sabalenka in the first round.

Sloane Stephens was the lowest-ranked US Open champion in the history of the event

Sloane Stephens with the 2017 US Open Trophy (Getty)

Sloane Stephens entered the 2017 US Open with a ranking of 83 and had to use the provision of protected ranking to enter the main draw in New York. The American player had missed a significant portion of the season due to surgery, and that had caused her ranking to dip.

Stephens began her campaign with a 7-5, 6-1 win over 2015 US Open runner-up Roberta Vinci in the first round, following which she caused an upset in the second round, winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 against eleventh-seeded Dominika Cibulkova. In the third round, she won 6-2, 6-4 against future World No.1 Ashleigh Barty.

Sloane Stephens caused another upset in the fourth round, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 against 30th seed Julia Gorges, before winning 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4) against 16th seed Anastasija Sevastova in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, she faced off against the ninth seed and two-time US Open champion, Venus Williams, winning 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 to reach the maiden Major final. She faced off against the 15th seed, Madison Keys, winning 6-3, 6-0 to clinch the title as the lowest-ranked player in history.

About the author

Sagnik, a Mass Communication and Journalism graduate, is a tennis journalist at Sportskeeda. Before finding his spot in the tennis writing team, he worked as a junior content specialist for academic content writing firms for a couple of years.

Before putting out any information in the public domain, Sagnik makes sure that every element of his content is well-researched and backed with credible data so that there is no misinterpretation of facts or quotes and ethical standards are maintained. To do so, Sagnik follows reputed websites like the Tennis Channel and Tennis TV, and renowned journalists on social media.

He is a fan of former player Roger Federer, and just like his favorite player, Sagnik likes to bring perfection to his write-ups by providing concise and on-point content. Speaking of the ‘GOAT’ debate, Sagnik believes that it is a bit unfair to compare the legends of the game from different eras who have played on different terms. But if he were to pick one, he’d go for Novak Djokovic based on his tally of 24 Grand Slam titles.

When not writing about tennis and technically analyzing the sport, which he believes are his 'forte', Sagnik indulges in reading books.

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