8 Tennis Star of Sloane Stephens’ Best SI Swimsuit Photos – Swimsuit

Sloane Stephens took a break from the WTA circuit when she traveled to Aruba in 2018 to work with SI Swimsuit photographer James Macari.

The athlete turned pro in 2009 and won the junior French, Wimbledon and U.S. Open doubles titles the very next year. Stephens won her first Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open in ‘17, which put her on the radar of a certain editor.

“After the U.S. Open, I went into the Sports Illustrated offices and I got to meet MJ [Day, SI Swimsuit editor in chief], and they were like, ‘You’re going to be in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit,’ and I was like, ‘You are joking me,’” Stephens recalled. “This is not the most comfortable thing for me, to be in a swimsuit… it took a little push, but once I got past that barrier, I’m on a whole other level.”

Last Februrary she won her seventh career title at the Abierto Zapopan, her first final and first championship since 2018 after having battled with injuries. Off the court, Stephens runs the Sloane Stephens Foundation, an organization she founded in 2013 that helps fight poverty and health inequity with tennis and other educational opportunities. She is married to pro soccer player Jozy Altidore.

“Once you get comfortable and feel so good about yourself, there’s no stopping you,” she added.

Below are eight of our favorite images from Stephens’s photo shoot in Aruba.