Just two weeks ago, 2017 US Open champion and 32-year-old WTA icon Sloane Stephens announced her awaited return to the court. After injuring her right ankle back in March, she had to step away from the action for an indefinite period. Ranked outside of the top 900, all she had to do was to get better and recover as soon as possible. Her unfortunate circumstances resulted in missing out on key events like the French Open, Wimbledon, and her home slam, the US Open, which wrapped up just last week. While Stephens’ comeback was much anticipated, turns out it hasn’t been exactly a smooth sail.

This week, the Guadalajara Open, a WTA 500 hard court tournament, is taking place in Mexico, in which Stephens chose to make her tennis return. During her first-round match against Italy’s Lucrezia Stefanini, rain disrupted play. When the downpour escalated in the middle of the match, officials had to suspend play for a later session on the following day. When the situation became normal, though, the outcome wasn’t in favor of the American.

Stephens’ return suffered after she lost a thrilling battle against Stefanini. While the Italian snatched the first set, Stephens fought back and leveled the fight. In the deciding set, however, Stefanini showed a dominant performance while dismissing the former World No.63’s challenge with a final score line of 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. It was their maiden encounter at the WTA level. Following her heartbreaking exit, Stephens shared a message on her Instagram story while still trying to take positives out of the experience. “Not the dream start, but I’ll take it: pain-free, foot intact, and still plenty in the tank. Onward. ✨ Thank you @gdlopen for the WC 🤗”

The result in Mexico, however, will still hurt her, seeing that she has been a former champion at the Guadalajara Open. Back in 2022, she won the trophy after besting Marie Bouzkova in a three-set thriller. In a tight summit clash, Stephens beat the Czech with a score line of 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 and won one of her eight WTA career titles.

It was also her first championship win in four years. “It’s the beginning of the season, so there’s still a lot of tennis to be played, but I’m excited to be able to put some matches together,” she reacted to her emphatic win. “Excited that I was able to do that, get a title, and hopefully continue on with that momentum.”

Speaking of momentum, it is definitely not the one Stephens had hoped for. Marred by injuries, she’s previously admitted the harsh reality of tennis and how things are not always favorable. Even when you become a slam champion.

When Sloane Stephens touched upon a bitter Grand Slam truth

Before she accomplished her childhood dream of clinching a major title, Sloane Stephens didn’t have many huge accolades to her credit. Going into the 2017 US Open, not many expected that she would eventually go on to win the hard court slam. But when she did, Stephens became a household name. While experiencing the spotlight for the first time in her career, she had very interesting introspective insights about this milestone.

Making an honest confession, Stephens revealed, “Winning the Slam was incredible, but my goal was to win a Slam and I was like, if I do this, I’m good. And when it happened, I was like, ‘what happens after this?’ And I had a complete identity crisis. I was like, ‘Do I retire, do I keep playing?’, that’s where a lot of my foundation work came in because I knew that that is what I wanted to do.”

She added, “I knew in my tennis world and my tennis life, I can still hit the ball. But I was just kind of wondering what happens next, right?” As of now, her avid fans hope to see her back on the court. While her journey at the Guadalajara Open may have been over, there are still many campaigns left. Going by her appearance from the last season at this very point, it seems like she may opt to compete at the Korea Open. The WTA 500 hard court tournament will kick off in Seoul from September 15.

Back in 2015, Stephens made it to the QF stage of this event. However, she failed to move beyond R32 last year. It will be intriguing to see how she performs this time, provided she confirms her participation.