ROLAND GARROS

May 27, 2022

Sloane Stephens

Press Conference

S. STEPHENS/D. Parry

6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: You were playing a French player. You were able to get it done. How do you feel right now?

SLOANE STEPHENS: It was obviously tough playing. It's always tough playing a home player at their slam. Obviously the French crowds are always very intense and great supporters, so it was tough.

I tried to keep my cool and just play a pretty calm match, and I did. So I was happy with that. Obviously she played well too, but I think this being her first time, first experience maybe in the third round, is difficult and tough, obviously your home slam. I thought it was a good match overall but a lot of adversity in the match, but happy to be through.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. On that, how you managed to keep your focus, are there any techniques you use to block everything out? I think Leylah Fernandez was talking about how she uses the negative to the crowd as motivation for her when she's playing against a home favorite. How do you handle it all?

SLOANE STEPHENS: I think it's difficult. I think once you play a lot of matches under tough conditions and against crowds like that, it becomes easier. I always say you've never played Simona Halep in the final of a Grand Slam and literally the whole crowd is Romanian and not French.

Playing in Montreal in the final and the whole crowd is Romanian and not Canadian, you experience some things that you kind of, you learn from. I feel like playing at the US Open, being an American, like you experience that also, but just on the other side.

So it's kind of like just balancing the feelings. It's a lot of emotions.

Q. You have obviously had quite a few runs in slams recently to about the third round, fourth round, but maybe going deep hasn't happened for a little while. I'm just wondering, does something feel different for you this time? Do you feel more confident you can go really deep here?

SLOANE STEPHENS: Well, considering that I did not win a single match before coming into the French Open, I would say that I'm doing the absolute best that I can (smiling) and that I am pleased to be in the fourth round for the eighth time.

I don't think you ever know when it's gonna happen or when it's gonna click. But I'm just trying to make the most of it, honestly. Happy to put the wins together now. Didn't at any other tournament, so God bless, but happy that it's happening here.

Q. Experience, you have a lot of it. It works in your favor. You can use it. It feels like maybe you use it here better than anywhere else. Is that potentially true?

SLOANE STEPHENS: Well, I guess if you want to think of it that way, it's possible. I have played a lot of matches here and on top of just having dealt with a lot of things in general on court, I'm kind of prepared for anything.

I think I'm a calm person, so when things do happen, I'm able to kind of relax and take my time. Obviously today was wicked because obviously the crowd was obviously all against me, then having the incident in the crowd, like, just a lot of things. You have to be prepared for that, and I know that the younger version of me at 22 didn't experience any of that before, so that would have been difficult for me.

But I think now that I have been through it a bit and seen those scenes a lot, often, it's much easier.

Q. On the crowd side, there have been a few instances this year of players having problems with hecklers, which I know is different than just sort of a partisan national crowd. Are there any things the sport can do to address those situations when they happen or is it something that's inevitable?

SLOANE STEPHENS: I mean, it's not new but it's definitely something that you get used to, people screaming out weird stuff and things happening.

I don't know what can be done to stop them. I mean, I think tennis has gone from a very polite and etiquette-friendly sport to, you know, we have music playing at the changeovers and we have kind of lifted a lot of the traditional rules and balances that tennis had before. So I think that gives people the opportunity to be noisier and scream more and do a lot of different things that wasn't really allowed before.

I don't know, I don't have a solution for how you stop that.

Q. Obviously we have had a lot of the top-10 seeds lose early at this slam. So often when top players lose, sort of the focus is on them and why they lost, but it also has something to do with the opponents obviously. You're not a veteran, but you have been around a number of years now. I wonder if you felt the depth of the field improve and increase over the course of your career?

SLOANE STEPHENS: Yeah, it's been very different. I would say when I was like just coming up and started playing pros, I was playing with like Sharapova and Pennetta and Venus, Serena, like that was like a core group. Dementieva was still playing. A lot of the players I looked up to were still actively playing.

Now not so much, and I think the game has changed quite a bit since like from those players. We had probably more lefties, like Makarova, Safarova, those players that were super consistent on the tour. I'd say now obviously with COVID and just how the game has changed, the courts have changed, the balls have changed, just in general techniques and things have changed, it's become a lot different.

I would say there has been some inconsistencies and then there's been some really great players like Iga who have had great results. So it's kind of up and down. But I would say once we kind of post-COVID and find our middle ground, I think the field will even out and get back to how it should.

Q. I just asked Coco about the quality of the clay at Roland Garros compared to other red clays. She said she thinks it's the best in the world because there aren't really bad bounces and just the quality of it. Do you share that same opinion that there is something that sets this clay apart here from other red clay?

SLOANE STEPHENS: Yeah, I agree. Full stop. Whatever she said. Sounds good.

Q. I'm curious about the Nike tops that the women are wearing here. They have this hole on the side.

SLOANE STEPHENS: Don't be curious.

Q. Does that have a function? I have seen it on several players. Do you know what that does?

SLOANE STEPHENS: (Laughter.) Just -- I honestly have no idea. I think it's just...

Q. Fashion thing?

SLOANE STEPHENS: Yeah, I would say it's fashion.

Q. Fashion is good. I just didn't know if there was a function I was missing.

SLOANE STEPHENS: No, the piece of the shirt is missing. That's all. Yeah, next question.

Q. I was wondering actually about the break in the third set with the spectator. Were you aware of it at the time? How did you sort of manage that 10 minutes or so? What's it like in that sort of moment as well?

SLOANE STEPHENS: It's terrible. Literally when I looked up, I was, like, Call the medic. You can obviously tell something is wrong.

I was disappointed with the timing of the medics and how long it took for them to arrive. I think if that's your loved one or someone you care about, that took entirely too long for him to be sought after and seen to. So I was very disappointed with that.

But I hope that the person is okay, and that they make a full recovery. Obviously you never want that to happen during a tennis match, especially when the person you are playing is serving at 5-1 down -- like, it makes it crazy. But I think in that moment it's someone being hurt or ill is bigger than what we were doing playing a tennis match. Yeah, I just hope that the person is okay and obviously not the way you want to, like, be at a tennis match, sick.

Yeah, I hope he makes a speedy recovery. I'm going to talk to Amelie about the medic time, because I was disappointed.

Q. Your next opponent, Teichmann. What are your thoughts on that matchup?

SLOANE STEPHENS: Great player. We have practiced together quite a bit. I call her Jil-One-L. We have practiced a lot together. I think she's a great player. Obviously she likes clay, practicing in Spain and stuff like that. I think it will be a good match.

Obviously the fourth round of a slam is always difficult. I think it will be a great match. She competes hard, fights hard, as do I, so I'm looking forward to it.