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Sloane Stephens upset 14th seed Daria Kasatkina in the second round of the 2024 Australian Open. Upon winning the match, she sent out a heartfelt note to her mother.
Kasatkina posed a tough challenge for Stephens, taking the first set 6-4. However, the latter staged a comeback before closing out the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
This is the first time Sloane Stephens has reached the third round at the Melbourne Major since her fourth-round exit at the 2019 Australian Open. At the customary autograph signing on a camera lens after her win, the American sent out a note to her mother and drew a heart around it.
"Hi mom. Miss you," Stephens wrote, as per a post by the Tennis Letter on X (formerly Twitter).
The former US Open champion shares a special bond with her mother Sybil Smith. The mother-daughter duo are often seen shopping and travelling together in Stephens' posts on social media.
Smith is a famous athlete in her own right. She was the first African-American woman to be named a first-team All-American swimmer in Division I.
Stephens will next face Anna Kalinskaya in the third round of the Australian Open.
Sloane Stephens opens up on work-life balance after R2 win at Australian Open
In an on-court interview after her second-round win over Daria Kasatkina at the 2024 Australian open, Sloane Stephens spoke about maintaining a work-life balance.
The interviewer referred to the 30-year-old's work with her foundation and asked how she managed to focus on the sport. She replied that it was a conscious decision that she took and that it has helped her experience new things.
"I decided a couple of years ago that I was really just going to enjoy my tennis and enjoy travelling and enjoy being being on the road and just not sit in my hotel room and watch TV shows," she said [at 01:09].
"So I've broadened my horizon and started to travel a lot more and just see the world, open my eyes a bit and it's been really fun."
She closed the on-court interview by thanking the crowd and recounting a few special experiences that she had Down Under.
"At tennis tournaments, there's so much to offer and obviously being all the way in Australian, I've fed kangaroos, I've held a koala, I've done so many different things, so Australia you're amazing," she added.
