Sloane Stephens has always dreamed of coming face to face with her idol Serena Williams, but she never thought she'd knock her out of a grand slam.
Yesterday's Australian Open quarter-final battle saw the almost 19-year-old American take down Williams, the five-time Australian Open champion.
She took down Serena two sets to one, causing the fiery-tempered tennis star to wreck her racquet and declare the last two weeks the "absolute worst", leaving everyone asking — who is the teenager who toppled a tennis giant?
Sloane Stephens grew up in a family of athletes in a humble home in Florida where she had posters of Serena Williams plastered on her wall.
Her mother, a swimmer and sports psychologist is her greatest supporter and closest friend, and she lost her football player father in a car accident in 2009.
With approximately $660,500 in career prize money already under her belt, Stephens is ranked at number 25 in the world.
Breaking into the Grand Slam semi-final guarantees the 19-year-old $500,000 in cash, but as a typical Gen-Y textaholic, she's worried a fair chunk of that might have to go to her phone bill.
"I thought it was free to receive text messages (while overseas) but someone told me otherwise … my mum is going to be like, 'Oh, my God, your phone bill'," she said after the match.
It's a genuine concern for the rising star who had sent 213 messages of congratulations on her phone by the time she walked off the court after her stunning win.
"Mum's going to be like, the money you were going to buy yourself something nice with, you're going to pay your phone bill."
Sloane now goes into the semi-finals where she will take on world number one Victoria Azarenka and, win or lose, we don't think it will be the last we see of her.
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