Apart from Serena Williams, the other female player whom the American fans have expectations from for an Olympic medal in Tennis is Sloane Stephens and Stephens has started her packing for Rio.
However, some time back the youngster was seriously thinking if she should be preparing to go or not.
Stephens says she has connected the telephone line to the medicos she knows and has spoken in length to each of them about Zika and what possibly it can do to a human being and based on the inputs she has got from the knowledgeable people, she has made the call that that she is going to put on the American shirt in the biggest sporting event.
According to Stephens, WTA, on their part, has also interacted with all the players who are playing Olympics and has made them aware what precautions can be taken to ensure protection against the mosquitoes. She has taken a note of everything and will be taking care of herself properly while being in Rio.
Actually, the main fear for the players regarding Zika is that if it gets into them, it might disable the growth of some of the body parts of their babies they may have in near future, but, Stephens is not planning to have babies in the next three-four years. So, she has no reasons to be that much worried in that regard.
Talking about players who gave up on their Olympic dreams to remain away from Zika, Stephens reckons it is about the nature of an individual and different individuals have different nature. There are individuals who think too much about anything, while, there are individuals who don’t and are comparatively more relaxed.
Stephens first singles fixture in Rio is versus Eugenie Bouchard.