Sloane Stephens defeated Jelena Ostapenko 7-6, 6-1 to win the Miami Open, her second biggest title ever after Us Open. In the press conference, the American player spoke about her foot injury and the tense time she faced back then. 'I was thinking that my life was over because the only thing I had was tennis and that was the only thing that I knew,' Stephens admitted.

'When I changed my perspective and I went and worked at Tennis Channel and I was finishing up school, like, I had so many things to look forward to and so many things that I knew in my life that I could accomplish. Just being able to feel really good about something else other than tennis really gave me perspective.

I think coming back to play tennis, I feel so good that I'm able to compete every week. And even when I was down after the US Open, I didn't have my best results and people were down on me, I said to myself, There's so many great opportunities out there, and every week you're not going to be able to take the title, you're not going to be able to win, but it's basically the people who bounce back the best are the people who are able to basically secure those opportunities.' About cracking the top-10 next week for the first time ever, Stephens stated: 'I'm super excited.

It's something that I have wanted for a really long time. I think that it took a really long time to get there, just to get to that 10, because I was at 11, and I'm so tired of them saying career-high ranking no. 11. So I'm super excited that on Monday I will be inside the top 10.

It's something I really look forward to. It's really exciting. And then obviously winning the tournament is just cherry on top.' Stephens feels excited heading into the clay season: 'I'm really looking forward to it.

Obviously, I missed the last clay court season, so I'm super excited to get back out there. Red clay is my favorite. I haven't been to Rome in, like, two years, so I'm looking forward to getting back there. I think that I'm playing well.

I'm in a good place. Hopefully, I can make some dents there, as well, during the clay court season.' ALSO READ: Roger Federer's fitness trainer reveals reason behind skipping clay