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Rising American tennis star Peyton Stearns has moved on from her coach as he faces accusations of alleged misconduct and inappropriate relationships with players.
Stearns confirmed to The Athletic that she has moved on from coach Rafael Font de Mora, but didn’t wish to ‘dive in’ to the reasons for the split.
An investigation by the outlet found that two former WTA players – including multi-time Grand Slam doubles champion Pam Shriver – filed complaints with the tour’s director of safeguarding about Font de Mora’s past actions.
Font de Mora’s return to the tour at the beginning of the season came after an absence of several years. His decision to return sparked a number of complaints from former players.
Shriver’s complaint in particular relates to a relationship Font de Mora had with a player he coached in the 1990s and 2000s.
He began coaching this player, Meghann Shaughnessy, when she was 13, had her move to his house when she was 14 (he was 25 at the time) and got engaged to her at age 19.
American tennis star Peyton Stearns has split with her coach, Rafael Font de Mora
Font de Mora (R, in 2006) has been accused of misconduct and inappropriate relationships with players he had coached. He has denied these accusations.
Meghann Shaughnessy (above in 2007), was coached by Font de Mora when she was 13 and then got engaged to him aged 19. The coach insists they only became romantic when she was 18.
Shriver, who had her own experience with an inappropriate relationship with a coach beginning when she was 17, reported Font de Mora to the WTA after passing by him in a hotel at the Australian Open this past January.
Font de Mora said his relationship with Shaughnessy was platonic until she turned 18 and the pair split in 2005 without having been married.
Shaughnessy, whose parents tried twice to remove her from Font de Mora’s coaching, hasn’t alleged any wrongdoing by her former coach.
A second complainant, who remained anonymous, alleged Font de Mora exhibited ‘aggressive, physically and verbally abusive behavior toward her, including swearing in her face and hitting balls aggressively in her direction,’ according to The Athletic.
A third player, who hasn’t made a complaint but was coached by Font de Mora, corroborated the second complainant’s description of abuse. This player also described sessions where ‘players were worked until they were on the verge of physical collapse’ and revealed that ‘no other coach made her play as long or as under fueled.’
After the outlet requested a response to questions about the complaints, Font de Mora said in January, ‘Your questions are statements that are not true. I coordinate my training and sprints with professional trainers and biomechanist(s) and I am a very positive coach.’
Stearns has not made any public complaints about Font de Mora. When asked at the Australian Open if she was familiar with his history on the WTA Tour, she replied, ‘Yeah, I mean, it’s been around, but I think right now, just not really going to dive into that, no comment.’
