Previous US Open Champ Sloane Stephens Reunites With Former Coach

Sloane Stephens, last week. Photo by Rob Prange/Shutterstock (10361917dj)

After parting ways at the end of 2018, WTA world number 11 Sloane Stephens has reunited with former coach Kamau Murray. This news comes after Stephens ended her partnership with coach Sven Groenveld, who is known for having coached the likes of Grand Slam winners such as Monica Seles, Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic.

Murray coached Stephens from 2015 until the end of the 2018 season. Included in this time span was Stephen’s career highlight of being crowned 2017 US Open champion- a shock result due to the American being unseeded at the time. Under Murray’s guidance, Stephens attained a career-high WTA world ranking of 3.

Stephen’s and Murray’s separation was characterized by Murray stating that they were simply “on a break”, following which Stephens went through the first few months of the 2019 season without a coach, before securing the services of Groenveld prior to the French Open.

Apart from making it to the French Open quarter-final, Stephen’s form under Groenveld was disappointing overall, with the current world number 11 suffering a third-round exit at Wimbledon, a second-round loss in Cincinnati, and first-round exits in both the Rogers Cup and the Citi Open. Stephens will begin working with Murray at the US Open, in a bid to see her career be put back on track.

Harley loves music and tries to go to a music festival every summer. When he's not listening to music, he writes about movies, food and wine, art, and sport.