American tennis player Sloane Stephens is primed to compete in the 2025 Australian Open once again: the former world No. 3 broke through in the sport by reaching the semifinals in Australia all the way back in 2013. 

Her run in 2024 ended bizarrely. Stephens’s third-round match against Anna Kalinskaya started well, as the American won a marathon hour-plus first-set via a tiebreak to claim an early lead. 

Her fatigue showed a set later, falling behind 5-0. Her coaches Francisco Ruig and Kamau Murray organized the delivery of twin sets of sushi and smoothies to be delivered to her chair, resulting in a code violation. 

“[Stephens is] being told to hurry up between points, just a bit of discussion [with the chair umpire], and amongst that just knocking off a little bit of sushi as well,” explained the Channel 9 commentator.

The American [has] actually copped a code violation … how about this … for taking too long to eat sushi. Unbelievable … she needed some chopsticks.”