Miami Living Magazine

Erick Elias

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SS: Yeah, all right, I’m getting some progress. I’m getting to practice and speak some Spanish. Fortunately, a lot of our staff speaks Spanish, so that’s been really nice. And second, our biggest accomplishment is forming three high school tennis teams for the three high schools and for Compton Unified we got a full team playing there. Also, redoing the courts at Centennial High School has been amazing because it brought a lot more kids to the teams. It got a lot of players excited to play. My foundation also supports higher education. Once you graduate from Compton Unified High School, you get two free years of college at Compton College. So getting kids to graduate from high school and then enroll them into a 2-year college program is the coolest thing for us! The Sloane Stephens Foundation recently partnered with SAP. Can you elaborate on this partnership and what are some of the benefits it brings to the foundation? SS: Yeah, definitely. Obviously partnering with a huge company like SAP with the foundation brought us unity because our vision aligns. We are all about uplifting communities’ improvement through tennis and education. It is an awesome partnership and I’m looking forward to all the things we can do together. SAP believes in our mission and it is really nice to have someone or a brand or company who believes in what it is that you’re doing. How did your South Florida upbringing and coaches support your achievements on the court? SS: I still talk and have a relationship with every coach that I’ve ever had in South Florida, including coaches like Nick Saviano and Jesse Smatt. You know if I had a kid, or one of those high performance kids, that needed to work on a forehand, server or whatever, I would 100% not hesitate to recommend one of my previous coaches who helped me with footwork or whatever. They’re like the best thing that ever happened to me. Obviously, I’m where I am today because of the coaches that I’ve worked with.

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