Female stars in US Open spat over 'inappropriate' comments

Sloane Stephens says it's 'a little inappropriate' that Monica Puig complained to reporters about the coaching switch affecting both players.

Rio Olympics gold medalist Puig said she was bothered by the way she found out that Murray was leaving her to return to working with Stephens ahead of the U.S. Open.

Puig said she heard the news second-hand from someone other than Murray himself and via social media.

Asked about the situation after her first-round loss, Stephens said she was keen to move on from the debacle.

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“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.”

Stephens also hinted at a deeper conflict between the pair, labelling the way Puig brought up the coaching change as ‘inappropriate’.

“If she has a problem, then she should approach me,” she said.

“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.”

Puig unhappy about coach’s defection

Speaking to tennis reporter Reem Abulleil, Puig said she only heard that her coach had left her from posts on social media, after her first-round exit.

“It came as a huge shock,” she said.

"I wanted to prove to myself (at the US Open) that nobody is going to be able to treat me this way in anything.

"To give and to receive a slap in the face, it's hard."

The coach in question, Kamau Murray, had worked with Stephens in the past before coaching Puig.