In a sport like tennis, playing at the top level for decades is tough, even for GOATs like Novak Djokovic or Serena Williams. However, there’s the 2017 US Open champion, Sloane Stephens, who has faced the undisputed legends of the early 2000s, like the Williams sisters, as well as today’s stars, like Coco Gauff. In a recent interview, she opened up about her experience across generations.
Sloane Stephens Breaks Down What Separates the Serena Williams Era From Coco Gauff’s Generation
When Stephens turned pro in the late 2000s, she was stepping into an arena still controlled by the very women whose posters likely hung on her bedroom walls.
“When I first came on tour, it was different,” Stephens said in her interview with HATC magazine. “Venus and Serena [Williams] were still winning slams, and they were dominating the game. There were still players like Lindsay Davenport and Kim Clijsters, and people that I really looked up to and loved watching play.”
Stephens’s record vs. the 23-time Grand Slam champion is 1-6, with the lone career victory coming in 2013 at the Australian Open quarterfinals, where she, at just 19 years old, stunningly won 3–6, 7–5, 6–4. Stephens never had a chance to play against Davenport or Clijsters in an official match.
She also added that the game has changed a lot since then, having played against the young generation.
“As I’ve gotten older, there’s a completely new set of girls. Coco Gauff and the younger girls, like Marta Kostyuk. It’s so interesting to see because the game has developed and changed so much in terms of power and athleticism; even the balls have changed,” she noted.
In the two matches she has played against Gauff, Stephens won the first one in the 2021 US Open, and the current World No. 4 defeated her in the 2022 French Open quarterfinals.
“I’ve been able to experience all of tennis, which has been nice and just super cool, because a lot of people can’t say they have played against Serena but also played against Coco,” Stephens concluded.
The former World No. 3’s career has been marked by frequent injuries and inconsistent form. In 2025, she was absent from court due to a foot injury and played just six matches. But that didn’t stop the 33-year-old from building a prolific broadcasting career, launching a podcast, and supporting young players through her Sloane Stephens Foundation, for which TIME magazine put her on the TIME 100 Philanthropy list.
