The TennisTV.com commentary team of Jason Goodall and Claire Wood criticize Sloane Stephens after her 7-5, 6-1 first-round loss to Petra Cetkovska in Doha.
Stephens has been dealing with a wrist injury, which allegedly played into her decision to skip the United States' Fed Cup tie last weekend, and was contesting her first match since she lost to Victoria Azarenka at the Australian Open.
“Sometimes I look at Sloane Stephens and I think, ‘Is she really enjoying being out there?'" Wood said. "Is she loving the challenge? Does she want to be playing at this level? It just isn’t always obvious that she’s enjoying it.”
Goodall suggested Stephens was looking for excuses.
“Every time she misses a serve, the look that she gives her coach is, ‘I told you so. I told you I wasn’t serving well,’” Goodall said. “And that’s the completely wrong attitude. You’ve got to work it out … not look at the coach and say, ‘I told you I was serving rubbish.’ Sometimes a player does need a helping hand to get a little more motivated in these situations, but this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this as far as Sloane is concerned.”