Sloane Stephens refused to be drawn into a spat with Monica Puig after coach Kamau Murray split with the Puerto Rican to reunite with the former US Open winner recently.
Puig, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist, reportedly called the move a “slap in the face” after her first-round loss in New York and said she only found out after it was announced publicly.
Murray coached Stephens to the US Open title in 2017 before the pair parted ways but returned to her corner in the run-up to this year’s final Grand Slam.
“I think there’s two sides to every story. I don’t think that you should tell anything but the truth,” Stephens said following Tuesday’s 6-3, 6-4 loss to Anna Kalinskaya in the first round at Flushing Meadows.
“I’ve seen some of the things that were said. I think that grownups do grownup things. We should leave it in the past and we should move on.”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with me, so... Her side is her side,” Stephens added.
“But I don’t think we should make it a big situation. I’m sure she’s fully aware of what happened.
“If she has a problem, then she should approach me. It’s not like I don’t see her all the time. Yeah, to go to you guys (media) and say everything that has been said I think is a little inappropriate. But it is what it is. We move on,” she added.
