NEW YORK—Sloane Stephens has a simple message for Monica Puig: we should move on.
After coach Kamau Murray parted with Puig to return to coach Stephens a couple of weeks ago, the Olympic gold-medal champion said the news took her by surprise.
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"At the end of last week, Kamau informed me that he would not be available to go to the US Open with me, which was a total surprise to me," Puig said in written statements, according to ElNuevodia.com (translated into English by Tennis Now). "I have put it behind me, and I am fully focused on preparing my best for the US Open."
Asked about the situation following her US Open opening-round exit, Stephens suggested there's more to the story and concluded "we should move on."
"I think there's two sides to every story," Stephens said. "I don't think that you should tell anything but the truth. 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."
The 2017 US Open champion said she felt public comments were "a little inappropriate" and if Puig has a problem with the parting, she can speak to her face-to-face.
"Her side is her side. Whatever she said," Stephens said. "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 and say everything that has been said I think is a little inappropriate. But it is what it is. We move on."
Neither Stephens nor Puig won a set in first-round losses, so both move on from Flushing Meadows.
Photo credit: @US Open