As she sat facing the media, beaming from ear to ear, newly crowned US Open champion Sloane Stephens was asked if the experience of this moment gave her the hunger to win another Grand Slam tournament. “Of course, Girl,” she squealed as the room broke into laughter. “Did you see that check that lady handed me? If that doesn’t make you want to play tennis, I don’t know what will.” At the start of the year, Stephens underwent foot surgery. She lost in the first round at Wimbledon in her return tournament and suffered yet another first round defeat in her next at Washington. Her ranking sank to 957. Sport has a habit of providing scarcely believable stories, but by any measure, Stephens’ run to the title in New York is deserving of place in the hall of fame of the unreal. “There are no words to describe how I got here, the process it took or anything like that, because if you told someone this story, they’d be, like, that’s insane,” she said. “I’m just happy to be here.” Over the course of the last fortnight, 24-year-old Stephens and her 22-year-old opponent in the final, Madison Keys, have grabbed their spots among a wave of dazzling young players that women’s tennis will lean on in the years to come. Even though Serena Williams has promised to return after giving birth, her sister Venus has shown that even at 37 she remains a force by reaching the final at the Australian Open and Wimbledon and the semifinal at the US Open and Maria Sharapova showed sparks of returning to her former glory in her fourth round run in New York, it is in the hands of this younger group of players that the sport will draw sustenance. The leader of this pack, at least for the moment, is Garbine Muguruza of Spain. The Wimbledon champion will take over the top spot in the rankings this week from Karolina Pliskova, who is yet to capture a major tournament, but is the owner of a vivacious, eye-catching game herself. Standing at 6 feet tall, the lithe 23-year old Muguruza is blessed with a strong all-round game and has two Grand Slam titles already in her bag. Her greatest challenge will be achieving more consistency as evidenced by a none too impressive 42-16 win-loss record this year and just two tournament wins. Thanks! For More Details marketing videos