Mutua Madrid Open, Spain
[CR1] Serena Williams (USA) vs. [CR38] Sloane Stephens (USA)
Stephens defeated Williams once, at a critical time in Serena’s career. This defeat may have appeared as an upset but Serena was struggling with back issues. Yet, it happened at a major, the Australian Open and everyone took note. Since then, great things have been expected of Stephens. Was the tennis world too quick to burden Stephens with expectations? Perhaps! She has not lived up to the “hype” and has been struggling to find the form that got her noticed. Despite her talent, Stephens still has not won her first WTA singles title. Why is Stephens struggling so much to consistently play at the level she once did?
Whenever these two play each other, everyone pays attention. Their recent encounter went to three sets and everyone was expecting this encounter would also go the distance, for it appeared that Stephens was slowly regaining her form. Unfortunately, Stephens did not put up much resistance. The obstacles that Williams had to overcome today were the wind and unexpectedly, the malfunctioning of her wardrobe. Stephens has got to be concerned and her lack of effort in the second set continues to be baffling at this stage in her career. Williams was never really threatened and won 6-4, 6-0. Will Williams win another title at this event?
Unfortunately I did not see the match. However, I have seen past matches between these two and I wonder if Sloane has not resigned herself to the fact that she cannot beat Serena. Perhaps she feels that that one match she won was a fluke. I say this because it often appears that Sloane is not even trying when she plays Serena. Sloane has to begin to believe in her talent and abilities or else she will continue to fail.
How does one go about rebuilding their confidence? I think Sloane is thinking too much about the past and needs to re-focus on her abilities. She has talent, there is no doubt; however, something goes wrong in her head when she steps on court. Now when she wins matches, it is not with the ease that she once did. She has to believe in herself, sadly it is hard to believe when the results are not there; however, maybe she needs to believe despite her current results. One question though she may want to answer, does she really want to play tennis? Sometimes when we do things for others, it is harder to stay committed when success is no longer easily achieved.