"Sloane Stephens is just playing for the money, she’s embarrassing the sport" - Fans aghast as American's poor form continues with Merida Open 1R exit

Sloane Stephens' recent WTA Tour woes continued as the 2017 US Open champion and former No. 3 was ousted from the ongoing Merida Open by Petra Martic in the first round. Unsurprisingly, tennis fans once again ridiculed Stephens over her dismal run of form, with many suggesting that as things stand, she should seriously consider calling time on her tennis-playing career.

On January 26, Stephens locked horns with Martic in the first round of the WTA 500 tournament in Mexico. The American produced an underwhelming display, with her serve particularly being ineffective. This allowed her Croatian opponent to register a comprehensive 6-2, 6-3 victory. It marked Martic's maiden WTA Tour-level win over Stephens, with the Croatian set to face top seed Emma Navarro in the second round.

Tennis fans on X (formerly Twitter) later lambasted Sloane Stephens, who is winless across four competitive events so far this season, including the Australian Open. More concerningly for the former No. 3, she has only won a solitary set in the four matches she has played so far in the 2025 season.

"Sloane Stephens is just playing tennis for the money and not even doing a good job at it she’s embarrassing the sport tbh," a fan wrote.

"Sloane still hasn’t won a match this year. Only has won a set so far too," commented another.

"I like Sloane, but it might just be about time to move on. She won a GS & has accomplished more than most players ever will. It’s time," another fan chimed in.

Here are some more fan reactions to Stephens' Merida Open exit:

"Omg Stephens girl just retire and focus on that podcast lmao," wrote one fan.

"Watching Stephens play in 2025 is just so sad," another added.

"Sloane playing like mierda in Merida," yet another fan weighed in. Mierda, a Spanish word, translates to 's**t' in English.

Despite the repeated calls from fans for Stephens to retire, the 2017 US Open champion fired back not too long ago, where she explained her decision to keep going despite poor performances and results.

---

Sloane Stephens laid bare financial reality behind carrying on playing

In Picture: Sloane Stephens (Source: Getty)

At the beginning of the year, Sloane Stephens sat down for a candid interview with US Weekly, during which she was asked about her thoughts on fans urging her to retire. Stephens took a swipe at her critics in response, saying:

"People don’t have any filter. They also don’t realize that you’re another human being. They would never say it to your face. It actually prohibits people from putting their lives out there because they don’t want to be judged."

The 2018 French Open runner-up also suggested that anyone in her position would continue playing considering that she's still getting paid significantly for her efforts.

"It’s all about what the athlete can handle, right? ‘You should retire?’ I’m like, ‘If these people are still paying me, I’m not going.’ I think people don’t realize, if someone was paying you a lot of money, you wouldn’t quit your job. You wouldn’t leave your job," she added.

Stephens' poor run of form has seen her drop out of the WTA top 100, with her current ranking being a lowly No. 115.