Monica Puig has hired Philippe Dehaes as her new coach, with the collaboration starting from the Asian Swing onwards. The Puerto Rican announced this news on her social media accounts, just a fortnight after her partnership with Kamau Murray ended abruptly before the US Open.
Murray left Puig’s camp just before Flushing Meadows and rejoined his former employer, 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens. While expressing shock towards this news as she did not seem to be notified beforehand, Puig fell in the opening round to Rebecca Peterson.
Puig and Murray started working together at the start of this year, though they did not achieve many impressive results. Currently ranked 68 in the live rankings, the Rio Olympics gold medalist’s best results this year came at the Volvo Car Open, where she reached the semifinals and one solitary quarterfinal appearance at the Internationaux de Strasbourg.
Dehaes has been working with former top-10 player Daria Kasatkina for a couple of years, witnessing her rise to the top before experiencing a slump this year. He is known for his encouraging on-court coaching sessions and made a name for himself with all his successes with the Russian.
Puig will be defending quarterfinal points at the Wuhan Open and Dehaes will be looking to help the Puerto Rican return to her best form, allowing her to consistently play at the level which allowed her to triumph in Rio.