Stephens, Sloane

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      ‘Great Entertainment’: Frances Tiafoe Upsets Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon

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      The unseeded American beat the French Open finalist in straight sets, and talked with a fellow first-round winner, Sloane Stephens, about the power of positive thinking.WIMBLEDON, England — Frances Tiafoe was the underdog going into his first round match at Wimbledon on Monday afternoon against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, the third seed and a recent French Open finalist. But on a rainy day at Wimbledon, the unseeded 23-year-old American shone.“The minimum I want to do is at least give myself a chance to win — I did,” Tiafoe said. “I woke up this morning like, ‘Yeah, I’m beating Stefanos.’ It happened. I think believing it when nobody else does is so big.”The 57th-ranked Tiafoe led the match from wire to wire, breaking Tsitsipas, 22, in the opening game and staying in front for a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory on No. 1 Court.Tiafoe, who saved all seven break points he faced, sealed the match by breaking Tsitsipas for a fourth time. After the two shook hands, Tiafoe rolled up his sleeves and flexed his biceps, slapped his chest, and punched the air.Tiafoe, who entered his news conference wearing a T-shirt bearing a photograph of Arthur Ashe in a fur coat, said that putting on a show against a top player was something he was delighted to “get to” do. “These are honors; these aren’t chores,” Tiafoe said.“At the end of the day, when I’m done with the game, I want people to say: ‘It was great entertainment to watch Frances Tiafoe. He’s a great guy first and a tennis player second.’”Tiafoe, the son of a maintenance worker who grew up living in a small room at a Maryland tennis academy, said he didn’t feel pressure despite previously being 0-10 against top-five opponents.“Pressure? I feel like I already overcame pressure, man,” he said. “I played on No. 1 Court today. If you told me when I was 10 years old I’d be playing on No. 1 court, beat No. 4 in the world? And I’ve been able to play Roger, Rafa, Novak in big stadiums. I mean, those are the moments you appreciate. I’ve come such a long way.”“Pressure was turning pro, being able to provide for my family; I’m able to do that,” he added. “I think perspective is everything. But there’s a long way I want to go. I’ve handled my real pressures. Everything else is kind of between the lines.”Tiafoe’s coach, the former South African player Wayne Ferreira, said they had worked on keeping Tiafoe’s mind from wandering at key moments.“When he’s seeing that he’s getting closer to winning the match, it’s always difficult keeping the concentration, like you could see in the third set,” Ferreira said. “It’s about trying to not rush things, trying to have a routine of doing the same thing every single time, taking the same time, keeping the focus. It’s little things that make a big difference, and he did a good job of holding it. It could have gotten tougher.”Tsitsipas, who did not play any grass-court tournaments to prepare for Wimbledon after his grueling run to the French Open final, said that Tiafoe had played “really well” but that he regretted not entering a warm-up event. “Any of these tournaments would have helped, for sure, get me in a better shape, get my tennis ready for the grass-court season,” Tsitsipas said.Sloane Stephens has dropped in the rankings but has focused on her attitude.Neil Hall/EPA, via ShutterstockTiafoe said that he had been talking to another prominent Monday winner, Sloane Stephens, about how quickly fortunes can change in the sport. Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, defeated the 10th-seeded Petra Kvitova, 6-3, 6-4, on Centre Court.“It’s not easy to always be playing at your top level,” Tiafoe said. “It’s just managing the highs and lows, but always understanding that you’re a baller, you’re capable. She’s so capable.”For Stephens, who is unseeded at Wimbledon and at her lowest ranking in four years, No. 73, positive thinking remains paramount. “There’s definitely panic when you’re on a losing streak, I will say that,” she said. “It’s definitely, like, ‘I have to change this, my racket is not right, I need different shoes, I need a new coach.’ All of those things that creep into your mind.“But I think for tennis, one week you could be pretty average and basic, and the next week you could be like quarter-ing, semi-ing a Grand Slam and your whole world changes.” More

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      2021 French Open: What to Watch on Thursday

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      Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Iga Swiatek and Ashleigh Barty feature in an action-packed second round at Roland Garros.How to watch: 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time on Tennis Channel; streaming on Tennis Channel+.The four Grand Slam tournaments are the most important tennis events of the year. For good reason, they draw the world’s best players. But it’s a rarity for all of the top players, the tournament favorites, to be playing in the same half of the bracket.On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek and Ashleigh Barty, the past two winners of the French Open, are both looking to extend their Roland Garros win streaks to nine matches. On the men’s side, the three most decorated champions of the sport, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, are appearing in the same half of a major draw for the first time. With 58 Grand Slam titles among them, the Big Three are still dominating. Any other player in their half will have quite a challenge to reach the final.Here are some matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are estimates and may fluctuate based on when earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Philippe Chatrier Court | 10 a.m.Roger Federer vs. Marin CilicRoger Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion in men’s singles, recently returned to the ATP Tour after a pair of operations on his right knee. Now 39, he has missed the French Open four times in the past five years, often resting during the clay-court swing.Marin Cilic has won just one Grand Slam tournament, the 2014 U.S. Open, which made him the fourth most successful male player entering this year’s French Open. Twice, Cilic was denied a second major title by Federer, at Wimbledon in 2017 and the Australian Open in 2018.The two players are not well suited to the crushed brick of Roland Garros; Federer’s elegant slices and Cilic’s powerful serve and volley are dampened on clay. This match will revolve more around tennis fundamentals and fitness than on stylistic strengths.Philippe Chatrier Court | 10 a.m.Sloane Stephens vs. Karolina PliskovaSloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, had to play through the qualifying rounds of the Italian Open in May, the first time she needed to qualify into a tournament since 2012. In the first round at Roland Garros, she edged Carla Suárez Navarro on Tuesday in a late-night match. Both players have had off-court struggles in the past year; Suárez Navarro recently underwent treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, and Stephens had deaths in her extended family from Covid-19.Karolina Pliskova, the ninth seed, had a good run on the clay-court swing, reaching the final of the Italian Open. But then she was dismantled by the 2020 French Open champion, Iga Swiatek. Pliskova won only 13 points and lost, 6-0, 6-0. She will need to shake off any doubts from that performance.Philippe Chatrier Court | 8 a.m.Ashleigh Barty vs. Magda LinetteAshleigh Barty, above, beat Bernarda Pera in the first round, and will next meet Pera’s doubles partner, Magda Linette.Adam Pretty/Getty ImagesAshleigh Barty, the first seed, was pressed by Bernarda Pera in the first round. To win in three sets, Barty focused on consistency, making only 25 unforced errors as she focused on lengthening points. Her first serves were not in fine form, however. She landed only 66 percent of them, and when they did land, she was less likely to win the point than on her second serves. The 2019 French Open champion, Barty will need to address this issue.Magda Linette, ranked No. 45, struggled at the beginning of 2021, losing five of her first six matches. She has turned it around just in time, gaining some confidence as she reached the semifinals of the Internationaux de Strasbourg last week in France. Now, she will try to avenge the loss by her doubles partner, Pera, and upset Barty to equal her best major result.Court 7 | 10 a.m.Aslan Karatsev vs. Philipp KohlschreiberPhilipp Kohlschreiber, ranked No. 132, was once a regular presence in the fourth round of major tournaments. But in the past eight Grand Slam events, he has not made it past the second round, and this once fearsome player now seems to be edging toward the end of his career. That’s not to say that he is without hope. In the first round, he beat Fernando Verdasco, a clay-court specialist and former world No. 7.Aslan Karatsev, the 24th seed, burst into the public eye with an outrageous run to the semifinals of the Australian Open as a qualifier, knocking out three seeded players before being dismissed by Novak Djokovic. It was not just a flash in the pan. He followed that with his first ATP Tour title at the Dubai Open and big victories on clay over Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev. Karatsev’s consistency can be tested over the best-of-five format if Kohlschreiber imparts pressure with aggressive baseline play.Here are a few more matches to keep an eye on.Elina Svitolina vs. Ann Li; Suzanne Lenglen Court, 5 a.m.Sofia Kenin vs. Hailey Baptiste; Court 14, 5 a.m.Novak Djokovic vs. Pablo Cuevas; Suzanne Lenglen Court, 10 a.m.Rafael Nadal vs. Richard Gasquet; Philippe Chatrier Court, 3 p.m. More

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      Mental Health Is on Sloane Stephens's Mind, Too

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      “I should have asked to go to my grandparents’ funeral,” she said. “It’s something that I’ll probably regret for the rest of my life.”As Sloane Stephens plays in the French Open, the second Grand Slam event of the year, she has regrets about having competed at the first one.“Looking back on it now, I should have asked to leave the bubble,” Stephens said Tuesday, referring to the mandatory 14-day quarantine for players in Melbourne before the Australian Open.Stephens’s family had been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. Between Christmas and the Australian Open, which began in February, Stephens lost an aunt, a grandmother and a grandfather to Covid-19. She attended the funerals for her grandparents via teleconference from her hotel room on the other side of the world.“I should have asked to go to my grandparents’ funeral,” she said. “I should have made those inquiries and seen if I could get out of the bubble and go home. I didn’t. It’s something that I’ll probably regret for the rest of my life, because I prioritized my tennis over things that were happening in my life.”She added: “The only thing I can do now is move on and move forward. There’s nothing wrong with having a therapist or two and a grief counselor and all of these things. I have to do what’s best for me and work on myself.”Players’ mental health had been a focus for Stephens even before Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open citing mental health concerns.“I think there definitely needs to be more open dialogue on what not only her but everyone on tour goes through,” Stephens said. “I think we don’t talk about it enough. I support her and I appreciate her speaking out because maybe that will help other players and other people speak out on how they’re feeling. Feelings are real, and we’re all human, so I hope she takes the time she needs.”Stephens serves on the WTA Players’ Council. She has become a sounding board for the players.“Players’ Council has really opened my eyes because I can kind of see the reality of a lot of other people’s situations,” she said. “It’s been enlightening and I think made me a better person to just open my eyes and see what’s going on around me, and not being so self-centered and focused on myself.”Stephens spoke about Osaka with empathy.“I have just read a lot of things that were just unkind and very insensitive, and I just feel like there’s no room for that,” she said. “There’s no room for kicking someone when they’re already down. I just don’t see that as a way to go forward, especially with someone on tour that we love and we adore and is really great for the game.”Stephens has also worked on being kind to herself as her results have slipped. From a career high of No. 3 in 2018 on the strength of a runner-up finish at the French Open, a title at the Miami Open and a win at the 2017 U.S. Open, Stephens is now ranked No. 59.Her diminished ranking relegated her to playing in the qualifying rounds of the Italian Open last month; it was the first time she had needed to enter the qualifying rounds of any WTA tournament since 2012, when she was still a teenager.“Covid. Death. Traumatic things happening in life, things that are out of my control,” Stephens said, summing up her year. “I kind of just had to manage, and I feel like I have just done the best I can.” Stephens has been playing steadily better this year, despite instability in her team. After stopping work with her longtime coach Kamau Murray, Stephens worked with Diego Moyano, a coach based in Florida, and the active Barbadian player Darian King. Most recently, Stephens has worked with Francis Roig and Jordi Vilaró, coaches based in Barcelona, Spain. The partnership has been successful so far: After reaching the semifinals of a WTA tournament in Parma, Italy, last month, Stephens opened her French Open on Tuesday evening by rallying to beat Carla Suárez Navarro, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.Through the changes, patience has been a constant for Stephens, who will play ninth-seeded Karolina Pliskova in the second round on Thursday.“I’ve gone through a lot, and to have the expectation of ‘Oh, I’m going to get out there and kill it’? That’s not going to happen,” she told reporters in April.But Stephens, whose U.S. Open win in 2017 came in just her fourth tournament back from a foot injury, also knows how quickly fortunes in the sport can change.“I think tennis is a very quick turnaround sport,” she said in April. “It’s going to get better. No one stays in a rut for the rest of their life or the rest of their career. It’s just literally not possible. At some point the tables do turn, the tides turn, and you have to be ready for when that does happen.” More