WTA World No.7 Sloane Stephens has been nominated for the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian of the Year Award.

The 26-year-old American suffered disappointment at Roland Garros as she made a quarterfinal exit against Johanna Konta but the off-court work of the 2017 US Open champion has been recognized of its value.

Stephens has worked specifically “to change the outlook for underserved kids through ‘Love, Love Compton,’ a program that provides tennis and education programming for Compton Unified School District children to level the playing field and build important life skills”.
 


Reacting to the nomination on Twitter, Stephens said: “Honored to be considered & congrats to the other Sports Humanitarian finalists – proud to stand by you guys.”

The other figures nominated for the award include MLB star Yadier Molina for his work in aiding Puerto Rico recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria, recently retired NFL player Chris Long for his 'Waterboys' initiative, which has resulted in the building of 61 water wells in East Africa, allowing more than 225,000 people access to clean drinking water, and the NBA’s Reggie Bullock, who is a campaigner for LGBTQ rights.

Previous winners of the award include Kevin Durant, Mark Giordano, Chris Paul and Tamika Catchings.

The winner of the 2019 gong will be announced on July 9, the eve of the ESPYs.