Sloane Stephens is considered erratic and unpredictable. At the WTA finals in Singapore, the US Open winner of 2017 is still without defeat. On Friday, Angelique Kerber waits for Stephens in the final group game.
In the mysterious world of women’s tennis she is the greatest sphinx, the unfathomable Sloane Stephens. At the height of her playing art she captivates with the perfect feeling for space, time and beat, but on her weak days the US Open Queen of the Year 2017 quickly seems like a provocative provocateur – listless, undermotivated, grumpy.
And so, before the last, all-decisive World Cup group match day on Friday in Singapore, the question arises as to which Stephens Wimbledon winner Angelique Kerber (30) will meet – the good Stephens, who can play anything and everything to the ground in dazzling condition.
Or on the bad, matte Stephens, who without warning and suddenly no longer even place the simplest balls over the net, with only the most necessary commitment.
“I’m just looking out for myself. And I know that I have my luck in my own hands,” says Kerber before the thrilling duel with the unpalatable American (25), who decides on the qualification for the semi-finals.
It’s a sentence Kerber also often said this summer at Wimbledon, at her greatest tournament ever. In a triumphal procession that seemed like a mission – especially because Kerber didn’t care about anything that happened outside their own Grand Slam tunnel.
Kerber didn’t care about the pressure, expectations and hopes from outside, she also didn’t care about the more and more high-calibre opponents, most recently even Serena Williams in the final. She only took care of the development and class of her own game, and it all ended with the most valuable of all triumphs in the vast world of top tennis. “When Kerber plays with this attitude, with this attitude, she is hard to stop,” says Kim Clijsters, who is currently also in Southeast Asia as a World Cup ambassador.
Of course, before the last day of the group games, the great arithmetic has begun, the calculation of what has to happen for the four competitors to advance to the semi-finals. The crazy thing is: Everyone from the quartet in the Red Group can still qualify, and all four can still fail. But the simple and obvious thing for Kerber is: If she wins the key game against Stephens in two sets, she is in the preliminary round in all mathematical models.
“We have to find the optimal mix of attack and control,” says Kerber. But excessive tactics are not allowed either, she must win as clearly as possible. If necessary also in three sets, without giving away too many games. “Angie can draw on all the experience she has gained over many years at the top,” says TV expert Chris Evert, once the leading woman in world tennis herself, “it will be a fascinating duel.
Against a rival who in the last two years or so has gone up and down a gear that has been extraordinarily dramatic even for the whimsical women’s tennis industry. Before their US Open triumph Stephens seemed to have almost been written off, serious injuries and persistent form crises had thrown them far back into the second and third leagues of their sport. At the beginning of August 2017 she was still ranked 917 in the world ranking, only to be promoted a month later to “Queen of New York”, the Grand Slam Champion Filly.
And then to fall back into the abyss: After 151 days in the Big Apple it remained without any victory after the fairy tale, it seemed to disappear again in the sinking after the moment of fame. But the next rash to the top followed, crowned with the final entry at the French Open. Now she’s even in the WTA finals for the first time, after two opening victories she’s not even considered a secret favourite anymore – and could fail abruptly with a defeat against Kerber. “Every game here is like a finale. That’s the attraction,” says Stephens, sixth in the world rankings.
Kerber, who fought her way to a three-set win over Naomi Osaka on Wednesday, does not have too nice memories of her last matches against Stephens, but in Miami she lost two sets in the spring. Their only win in five comparisons in Indian Wells was more than six years ago.
But on the big stage, in an all or nothing match of the highest importance, the two stars have never met before. “One thing is clear: I have to play my best tennis,” says Kerber, “and I have to go back to the limit.”