Stephens: A Lot Of Coaching From Stands

Sloane Stephens supports permitting coaching at Grand Slams for two primary reasons.Stephens believes it makes the sport more engaging and asserts “a lot of coaching happens from the stands anyway.”Watch: Svitolina Sweeps Kvitova in SingaporeSince Serena Williams berated chair umpire Carlos Ramos as “a thief” who “stole” a point from her when he called Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, for coaching during her straight-sets loss to Naomi Osaka in last month’s US Open final, some have called for changes to the current coaching rule.Several players and coaches, including Mouratoglou, have called for Grand Slams to legalize coaching and for tournaments to allow coaching from the stands.

Stephens says coaching is positive for the sport.“Yeah, I think on-court coaching is good. Obviously, it can change a match,” Stephens told the media in Singapore. “For one player, it can be really, really great. And at the same time you could come on the court with your coach and could lose eight games in a row.“A lot of coaching does happen from the stands anyway. Whether it’s right, wrong, whatever I think that coaching is a big part of tennis, and you’re out there alone. You know, a lot goes into it behind the scenes, preparation and everything.”The 2017 US Open champion says allowing coaching brings human element to the sport.“So I think on-court coaching brings in that aspect of you feel like you’re more involved, like, with the player and coach, and I think that kind of like makes it more like a personal type of thing.”Photo credit: Getty ]]>