Most of the players who participated at the United States Open have already left New York and have scattered across the globe, with some of the men playing Davis Cup ties this weekend and the women off to play tournaments in Quebec City and Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

But Sloane Stephens, the 20-year-old American ranked at a career-high No. 13, remained to be a part of Fashion Week. Stephens walked the runway Thursday night at the Just Dance With Boy Meets Girl fashion show at STYLE360 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, modeling the designs of Stacy Igel.

“I’m really excited because I’ve never walked in a fashion show before, so this is new for me,” Stephens said before the show.

She practiced her runway walk by pacing the hallways while in New York.

So what is more nerve-racking for Stephens: walking a runway during Fashion Week or playing on center court at a major?

“I think it’s two different types of nervousness,” Stephens said. “On center court, it’s like, ‘Let’s play already, I just want to get to it.’

“Before a show, it’s nervousness, like ‘I don’t want to do it.’ But I’m excited, I think I’ll be proud of it obviously, it’s something I’ve never done before. So I might be up there saying I want to do it again or I might be like – I’m never doing that again. Hopefully I will have a good experience and want to do it again.”

Stephens, who has appeared in Vogue and Teen Vogue, was named one of Vogue’s Style Stars in December. She does feel some pressure living up to that reputation.

“A little bit, but I don’t really go places where people would like see me and say like, ‘What is she wearing?’ ” Stephens said. “So that’s a good thing.”

She added, “I try to look cute all the time.”

Stephens spoke about her relationship with fashion, which mostly involves spending money on it.

“I love to shop, I love to see new things,” she said. “I obviously have a lot of free time when I’m on the road. It gives me something to do. I can look up all types of designers. You have the Internet, you have everything. It’s definitely something that has been built into my life because it’s something I could do to waste a lot of time. And it’s fun, so it definitely has taken a big part of my life because it’s something I really like to do.”

Asked about whether she would like to have her own place in the world of fashion, she said: “I’m thinking about it, but obviously it’s really tough. Fashion is very judgmental. It’s something where you have to be careful. I have a long way to go before I can be a designer. I’d love to one day, but we’ll see.”

Stephens is within striking distance of the top 10 with a chance at qualifying for the year-end WTA Championships in Istanbul. She is in 11th place in the race to Istanbul.

“I did not find out until yesterday that I had a chance to be in the year end; that’s pretty cool,” she said. “I’m excited. I’d love to make year end, and obviously being 13 this week is pretty good and will try to get better.”

“I need 200 points to get there,” she said as she prepares to play the Asian swing of the tour. “Four tournaments with no points to defend. It’s looking pretty good, and obviously, first, first, first and first would be my ideal. I’m just going to try to keep playing well and have fun. It’s obviously a little bit of pressure trying to reach a goal, being really close, but I think I’ll do fine.”

After a third-round victory in the Australian Open in January, Stephens said that she gave herself a fashion reward of Jimmy Choo shoes.

Will Stephens give herself some sort of a fashion purchase as an incentive to make the top 10?

“I’ll probably go on vacation somewhere nice by myself,” she said. “I shop every day, so every day is a gift and a surprise.

“Love when I come to New York; I do all my shopping, I spend too much money. I’ve already bought all my gifts for the rest of the year two weeks ago.”

Article was originally posted on the New York Times’ website: