After missing the last three Grand Slams of the 2025 season with a lengthy foot injury, Stephens used her protected ranking to enter the 2026 Australian Open qualifying draw and dropped only one set in her progression to the main draw, defeating Barbora Palicova, local girl Olivia Padecki and former top-50 player Lucia Bronzetti in successive days.
Stephens fell outside the top 1000 of the WTA rankings as a result of her layoff, dabbling in television commentary and investing more time in her humanitarian missions whilst off the court, but the 32-year-old overcame a late rally from Bronzetti to win her knockout qualifier in straight sets on Thursday for yet another Australian Open appearance.
"That's a cool little stat," Stephens gleefully responded when informed by Flashscore that she'll be making her 14th Australian Open main draw appearance - starting against Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova on Sunday.
"That’s exciting. Having the qualifying here made it feel a bit cooler. I haven’t had to do that in a long time, obviously."
You looked to be in cruise control throughout much of that match, leading 5-2 in the second before losing your serve twice. Were you a bit surprised that it took so long for Lucia Bronzetti to really get into the game?
"No. I mean she's a very good player and I've played her before. I practice with her on tour quite a lot, so we know each other's games pretty well. It was always going to be a tough match. Closing it out was tough but I'm just really happy to get the win in the end. I played good tennis the whole match so I'm really happy with it."
You had to play against the crowd yesterday (when defeating Australian Padecki) and not so much today, but you’ve got no shortage of experience playing against Australians here. The last time you had to go through Australian Open qualifying they’d barely get a thousand people to the grounds, and now we have had almost 100,000 people already in the first few days. Were you expecting this kind of atmosphere in the opening week?
"I honestly was like ‘are people even going to be at the matches?’ I didn't really know what to expect. I feel like the Australian Open is the most dynamic Slam we have with how all the people and the crowds come out.
"It's also a different time of year where it's summer and there's a lot of kids coming. It's a different environment in general but I think the Australian Open does it best because they're making this week very fun and inviting. It's for families, it's for friends, it's for everyone. I think that makes it really cool.
It’s the first time since winning the WTA Rouen title in April 2024 that you’ve won three consecutive games, and after dropping only one set in qualifying, do you feel as though you’re getting back to some of your best tennis?
"Yeah! How shocking is that? I feel like that's pretty good. It's interesting when you win three matches and the tournament hasn't even started yet. I'm happy with where I'm at. Obviously there's a long way to go since I'm on that protected ranking, but I feel there's plenty of good tennis left. It's exciting for me."
Now that it’s time to start looking ahead to the tournament proper, what are your ambitions here in Melbourne? Are you just thinking about the second round for, or getting through to the second week? Where do you believe you’re at right now after a long absence with injury?
"It's always nice to do well enough to make the second week. In general I'm just happy to be playing again and be healthy. It was a big task to come here and play in qualifying as a former Grand Slam champion. A lot of pressure and a lot of stress but I think in general I'm happy with that. It's another stepping stone to getting better and getting back on track and getting my ranking back."
As we all know, you won your first slam after a similarly long injury absence in 2016 and 2017, beating Venus Williams, beating Madison Keys. It’s very different almost ten years later now that you’re spreading your wings a lot broader off the court with your media work, your foundation work and your advocacy for women’s health - so what’s your outlook for 2026? Can Sloane Stephens make another incredible grand slam run?!
"We hope! We need it. I think I would love to get back to the top of my game but it takes a lot of energy and a lot of effort and I think right now I'm nearly there. The tennis is good, I'm practising a lot, my body is good, everything is good. Fingers crossed for a great season and an injury-free season would be super helpful.
"Starting to put these wins together will be nice. Three wins in a row is always good and my coach always says ‘winning breeds winning’, so (in 2026 I'm hoping for) more winning on the tennis court, more winning in life, more winning for the foundation."