Sloane Stephens: back on track and better than ever?

Just over a month ago, we ran a feature exploring Sloane Stephens’ frustrations in her comeback to tennis.

Playing in just her second event after almost a year on the sidelines, she’d just been bagelled by Simona Halep in the second set of her first-round loss in Washington DC. She’d lost her first match back at Wimbledon in straight sets to Alison Riske.

Now she’s in the US Open quarterfinals.

The American’s resurgence has been unexpected, quick and impressive. Even to her.

“I mean, yes, it surprised me,” said Stephens after a three-set win over Julia Goerges which sent her through to the last eight in New York for the first time. “Obviously, I could never say, Oh, yeah, when I was coming back, I’m going to make two semifinals, a quarterfinal. I would have been like, You’re crazy.”

Since that loss to Halep in Washington, Stephens has been one of the hottest players on the WTA tour. Those semifinals she referenced came in Toronto and Cincinnati – two prestigious Premier 5 events. She’s won 12 of her last 14 matches and in that time slashed her ranking from No.934 to No.83. She’ll rise again, to a projected 51st, on the back of her quarterfinal run at Flushing Meadows. Higher still if she continues to win.

Sloane Stephens' meteoric rankings summer surge:

Before Toronto: #934
After Toronto SF: #151
After Cincinnati SF: #84
Into #USOpen QF: ~#51

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) September 3, 2017

This purple patch has led journalists striving for an explanation as to what is suddenly clicking for the 24-year-old, who prior to Wimbledon was rendered immobile by foot surgery and not sighted on court since the Rio Olympics.

Stephens wasn’t especially effusive.

“Before or when I started playing again at Wimbledon and D.C. I didn’t expect much. I was just playing and having fun, having a good time,” she said. “I’m still playing and having a good time. That’s really all there is to it.”

We always knew that Stephens could play great tennis. She burst to prominence when she beat Serena Williams en route to the Australian Open semifinals as a teenager in 2013, and rose to a career high ranking of No.11 later that year.

She was always solid at the Slams – at one stage she reached the second week at six consecutive major tournaments – and although WTA tournament success initially eluded her, she cleared that hurdle with her first title in Washington DC in 2015. It appeared to open the floodgates; in the first half of 2016 alone she collected three more – Auckland, Acapulco and Charleston – and returned to the top 20.

Sloane Stephens' 4 top 15 wins this month are more than she has ever recorded in any other full season. Surreal return to form.

— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) August 31, 2017

Yet there was always a sense Stephens wasn’t fully satisfied. Moody with the press and at times indifferent – even disinterested – on court, her results and performances fluctuated from week to week.

Burdened with the label of successor to Venus and Serena, or American tennis’s next great hope (torches that have since been passed to Madison Keys), Stephens appeared a little burned out.

Her foot injury may have actually proved a blessing. Yes, she could enjoy a normal life for a change and escape the relentless grind and pressure of the circuit. But with competitive tennis taken away from her, she realised just how much she enjoyed it, and missed it.

US OPEN SMASHTALK: is American tennis “back”?

“Before I felt like I was missing out (on everyday things). Then I got to enjoy it, go to weddings, baby showers, soccer games, all this stuff,” she said.

“I obviously was upset that I was injured. But in that time I got to do all of the things that I would never have been able to do. Looking back, like, it was probably the best, I don’t know how long, 10 months or however long it was, that I’ve had in my life because I got to enjoy all those things.

“But I really did miss tennis. Now that I look back, I’m so happy I got to do all that stuff. Now I’m so happy that I’m back playing and in the quarterfinals of the US Open. It’s kind of a give-and-take.”

All of the components that made Stephens a force when she emerged on tour remain intact. Her power is significant, especially from the forehand wing. Few players are as athletic, or cover the court as well, or hit as hard on the run. She’s still as calm and steady as ever on court, rarely appearing too anxious or uptight.

But there’s an added element of competitive joy, of greater drive, of focused intensity. Although it’s only been at her last three events, it’s hard to recall Stephens backing up her results at big tournaments, week after week.

RELATED: Sevastova beats Sharapova, into US Open quarters again

Next up is Anastasija Sevastova, and a shot at her second Grand Slam semifinal – almost five years after her first.

Now further into her comeback, there’s less frustration, and more enjoyment.

“I played a lot of matches in the last couple weeks. I can’t really change too much. But I’m sure I’ll have a good game plan going into (the Sevastova match). That will be that,” she said.

“When I couldn’t play, I literally couldn’t even, like, go on the court, stand and hit a ball. I had to sit down and all that stuff. I think that now that I’m, like, running around and, like, sweating, my ponytail is flying, these are all such great things.

“I’m just happy to be running around and competing again.”