Sloane Stephens has reconnected with coach Kamau Murray days ahead of this year's U.S. Open, which Stephens won in 2017 while working with Murray.
Stephens, ranked No. 11 in the world, had been coached by Sven Groeneveld since May but announced the end of that partnership Monday. Two days later, the 26-year-old tweeted that she and Murray have reunited.
Murray coached Stephens from 2015 until the end of the 2018 season, a span that included Stephens' unseeded run to the 2017 U.S. Open title, the first and only Grand Slam championship of her career thus far. Stephens also earned a career-high rank of No. 3 in the world and reached the 2018 French Open finals while working with Murray.
Stephens' results with Groeneveld were inconsistent. She reached the French Open quarterfinals and third round of Wimbledon this year but struggled during the hard court tournaments in the run up to the U.S. Open next week. She lost in the first round of the Citi Open and the Rogers Cup before a second-round loss last week in Cincinnati, a disappointing stretch of matches entering what has been her most successful major tournament.
Murray had spent most of this season coaching Monica Puig, who was informed "at the end of last week" that Murray was moving on, she wrote in a statement to Sporting News. The news was "a complete surprise" to the No. 44-ranked Puig, she continued.
In the characteristically wide-open landscape of women's tennis, Stephens will be one of many potential contenders for this year's U.S. Open, which will announce its main draw Thursday and begin play Monday.
Defending champion Naomi Osaka enters as the No. 1 seed, followed by this year's French Open champion, Ashleigh Barty, at No. 2.
Serena Williams, who reached the finals of her previous two tournaments, is the No. 8 seed.