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Sloane Stephens speaks out about an issue never discussed before in women's tennis

Stephens is using her platform to advocate for female tennis players

By Wendi Oliveros

Robert Prange/GettyImages
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Sloane Stephens is lending her voice to a cause near and dear to her heart. The 31 year old US Open champion is talking about fertility issues. Stephens works with KINDBODY to give women an idea of what to expect if seek advice and guidance on fertility issues.

Stephens, an outspoken former member of the WTA Players' Council also directs some of the discussion at the WTA. She argues that WTA players should be able to use a protected ranking, something they use when reentering the tour after maternity leave, illness, or prolonged injury, for fertility treatments and in this case, egg freezing.

She said that women are forced to choose between family planning and tennis given the 11 month season and if they want to free their eggs, the only time to do it to preserve their career and ranking is the first week of the offseason. At any other time, they do not have adequate time to recover and train.

Sloane Stephens froze her eggs

Stephens does not examine the fertility issue from afar. She shares her personal experience with freezing her own eggs for the first time in 2022. Stephens plans to go through the process once again in the 2024 offseason.

She is advocating for her fellow female tennis players who have longer careers than ever before. Stephens believes this discussion should be commonplace in the WTA and beyond.

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Stephens is having a good 2024 season, capturing her eighth career WTA singles title in Rouen in late May and her first ever WTA doubles title (with American partner Ashlyn Krueger, 20) in Charleston.

She has also started her own podcast in May called Sincerely Sloane with six episodes already recorded. Stephens has spent half of her life in professional tennis, turning pro in 2009 and will soon be back on the court to prepare for Wimbledon, the Grand Slam she has had the least success with. Her best result was as a 2013 quarterfinalist; whereas, she has finished as a semifinalist or better at the other three Grand Slams.

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