Out since September, Sloane Stephens plans to begin hitting again in December, TENNIS.com has learned.
The American lost to Johanna Larsson in the second round of the U.S. Open and then traveled to the Guangzhou International on September 15, but suffered a wrist injury in her first-round loss and stopped competing after that.
The 21-year-old American reached a world ranking of No. 11 in 2013, but largely struggled during 2014. She has consistently gone deep at the Grand Slams, having reached the second week of all the majors and the semifinals of the Australian Open, but in 2014 she only managed to reach two quarterfinals.
Stephens, who lives in Los Angeles, has yet to hire a new coach. This year, she worked with Paul Annacone in an eight-month partnership, and then was briefly coached by Thomas Hogstedt.
Currently ranked No. 36, Stephens says she is feeling healthy and plans on playing her first tournament in Auckland at the start of 2015. She has not decided if she will play Sydney or Hobart the following week.