Sloane Stephens took a break before traveling to Mexico for the Merida Open Akron, and talked about youngstar Alycia Parks and her friend Madison Keys
The American hasn’t had good results during the first weeks of the year and has been eliminated at the first round in the three tournaments she has played. The last official appeared for Stephens this year was the Australian Open, where she lost to the 21-year-old Russian years old Anastasia Potapova.
Former world No. 3 is one of the most active tennis players on social networks, where she constantly interacts with her fans. On this occasion, she used her Instagram account to answer some questions from her fans “Been a while... Ask me Anything” Stephens wrote.
One of the questions she was asked was if she is planning to play doubles this year, and the American replied: “Yes!! I’m going to play with @alycia.parks at some tournaments this year! She is bringing me out of doubles retirement” and added “I’m excited to play with my girl.”
Another fan wanted to know about the close friendship she has with her compatriot Madison Keys: “Sloane, your friend Madison Keys is the best person (acuarius). Yes/not.”
The 29-year-old responded with a photo of her and Keys in their recent participation in the exhibition that they played to open the ATP 250 Dallas: “Pretty much @madisonkeys”.
Before the match between both friends, they participated in an activity organized by Buddy Up Tennis, which serves children with Down Syndrome and special needs. On the occasion, the former US Open champion met a young fan who is also called Sloane Stephens. When her mother was pregnant, she found there was a tennis player with the same name she had decided, so the whole family became a fan of Stephens.
The player thanked the experience through her social networks, where she shared a video of the moment she lived:
"I love kids, and I think sharing something incredibly special like our name, there's very few Sloanes in the world, and very few Sloane Stephens," said the Grand Slam winner. "I don't know if there's more of us, but to be able to meet another is very cool and to be able to share that experience is pretty awesome."
The next challenge for the world No. 40 will be the Merida Open Akron on February 20, where she’ll try to win her first match of the season.
Had the best time meeting Sloane Stephens! Thank you @DALOpenTennis & @BuddyUpForLife for making this happen ♥️
Dallas: Can you take this much cuteness? 😍 @SloaneStephens thrilled a little fan from @BuddyUpForLife named (get this!) Sloane Stephens. #DALOpen | @sloanestephens | @WTA
Dallas we had a time!! 🫶🏾🫶🏾 Thank you for an amazing weekend! @DALOpenTennis
