Sloane Stephens On Sneakers, Jordan, Designers And Prepping For The US Open – Forbes

Posted byCaptain Mike

If US Open champion Sloane Stephens has her way, the next on-court sneaker collaboration she’ll work on is with Aleali May. But first she’ll head to the 2019 US Open as only the second player to don an on-court Jordan collab, following in the footwear steps of Roger Federer. 

“How sick is that?” Stephens says. “Roger is the goat and me being the second — and the first female — I think everyone is going to be jealous.” 

Jealous? Certainly. Stephens enters New York City planning to pair an Air Jordan 8 upper in the “aqua” colorway atop her NikeCourt Zoom Zero outsole, giving the world’s No. 11-ranked player a true tie to both her sport and her favorite sneaker in the NikeCourt Zoom Zero x Air Jordan 8 Aqua. 

“When it came up to do something different with the Jordan 8, the Jordan upper on my regular tennis shoe is where it started,” she says. “When we first decided to do it, obviously we didn’t know if it would actually work or if we could make it happen. It was kind of cool to see it come to life and put a whole different top of the shoe on a bottom. The process, with a lot of wear testing and color testing, was a lot of fun.” 

Stephens, 26, the 2017 US Open champion, remembers getting a pair of AJ8s around the age of 13, becoming attracted to them because they debuted originally in 1993, the year she was born. Stephens has been enamored with sneakers ever since and loves the idea of welcoming the aqua colorway to tennis. 

“It’s timeless,” she says. “It reminds me of when (Andre) Agassi played. It’s a colorway that keeps coming back and for good reasons. The aqua colorway is super cool with the blue US Open court contrasting with the yellow in there, so, yeah, it is great.” 

And while Federer’s first Jordan collab in 2014 simply brought the aesthetics of the AJ3 to the Nike Zoom Vapor 9 Tour, the Stephens effort takes the entire AJ8 upper, including the high-top styling, and places it on the Zoom Zero upper. “It is a great way to get Jordan into the tennis world,” she says. “It will be a pretty big moment bringing Jordan into tennis.” 

Getting used to the fit wasn’t difficult, she says. “I wear a lot of high-top sneakers in general, so it wasn’t uncomfortable. I started running around and it was not bad at all. If it was uncomfortable, it wouldn’t have worked.” She plans to wear one pair through the tournament, but always has another worked in just in case. 

Does she love the high-top look enough to try and talk NikeCourt designers into something new, like a high-top Zoom Zero? “If NikeCourt and Jordan wanted to collab on that, it would be sick,” she says. 

Whether or not Stephens gets a new range of Zoom Zero options, she going to keep her personal sneaker collection going, both with this on-court look and the off-court Aqua Jordan Air Latitude 720 she’s recently been sporting as part of the collaboration. “I live off tennis shoes, I like being comfortable,” she says, “I wear tennis shoes all day at my job, so when I get home I put on another pair, I’m not a heels kind of girl.”

Her philosophy with shoes —an ever-growing collection — is if she buys it, she wears it. “Who wants to buy something you can’t use?” So, for her, right now her favorite sneaker is the collab May did, the pink Air Jordan 6. 

“I have a lot of tennis shoes,” the engaging — and engaged — Stephens says with a laugh. “Since I signed with Nike, I have had so many better options to wear and the Jordan side, being able to wear whatever.” 

Being able to be part of her own tie to Jordan comes as a special moment. “MJ is the greatest athlete of all time, and more than that, he goes beyond basketball,” she says. “He helped build this culture. He was bigger than sports. No matter what you do, you know who he is and what he did. And he doesn’t stop. He’s still doing a million things. I really respect that.” 

Stephens, newly engaged to soccer star Jozy Altidore, says she just might need to break out sneakers at her wedding reception. 

If given free license to design her next on-court sneaker, she says a collab with a female designer would be the choice. “A NikeCourt Aleali would be cute,” she says. 

Beyond the sneakers, which Stephens says she’s pleased Nike has dialed in for her with the NikeCourt Zoom Zero since foot surgery in early 2017 made finding the perfect fit a requirement for her to play, Stephens isn’t too picky on tournament apparel. “I just want to be comfortable and Nike being a performance brand they make sure you are comfortable,” she says. “I have played in so many different outfits that at this point they all look the same. Comfort and the feel of lightweight, dry fit fabric help my performance on the court, and I am geared to focus on that rather than the look of the outfit.” 

With the intensity of New York City and her home country slam, the Florida resident says she’s excited for the timing of the Jordan project. “I think being an American and past champion, it is cool to have something special happen at the US Open,” she says. “It is the biggest time of year playing in North America and to do something really special at the end of the year, to go out with a bang, it is really unique.” 

When in town for the Open, Stephens stays in a Midtown Manhattan hotel with “easy access to get to everywhere I want to go,” whether good restaurants (she’s a big fan of trying new restaurants), shopping or friends. She mixes up her daily routine too, sometimes practicing on site at Flushing Meadows in Queens and other times finding a closer location for practice, being flexible based on the day and the schedule. 

Over the years, she’s learned how to put together a good schedule and ensure her days stay super balanced with time for herself, time for business needs and time for tennis. “I am very organized and have gotten used to having a lot on my plate,” she says. “I balance it out.” 

Managing her time has helped Stephens adjust to the lonely life on tour. “I make sure everything is done so I am not worrying about if I forgot something, especially before or after I play,” she says. “I want to make sure everything is set and scheduled and out of the way before I can sleep at night. I am weird about that. Finding that right balance has been super helpful.” 

As Stephens, who also started a Sloane Stephens Foundation in 2013 to enhance the quality of life for youth by using tennis as a basis for lifelong learning and healthy lifestyle choices, finds that balance in life helps her focus on the court and prepare for the energy of the US Open. 

Now she’s set to make Jordan tennis history in New York City. Expect plenty of Jordan Aqua this summer, but also for this balanced champion to have plenty more stories to tell.