American tennis star Peyton Stearns has fired her coach, Rafael Font de Mora, two months after he was accused of alleged misconduct and having inappropriate relationships with players.
Stearns, 24, confirmed to The Athletic on Sunday, March 8, that she is no longer working with Font de Mora, 57. However, she said she did not want to “dive in” regarding the reasons for the decision.
The Athletic previously launched an investigation into Font de Mora and found that two former WTA players, including multi-time Grand Slam doubles champion Pam Shriver, had filed complaints with the tour’s director of safeguarding regarding the coach’s past actions.
After he took several years off from the tour, Font de Mora made his grand return at the beginning of the season. In light of his return, a handful of former players issued complaints about the decision.
In Shriver’s complaint, she claimed that Font de Mora had an inappropriate relationship with player Meghann Shaughnessy, whom he coached in the 1990s and 2000s.
Font de Mora began coaching Shaughnessy, now 46, when she was just 13 years old. He allegedly had Shaughnessy move to his house when she was 14 and he was 25, while they got engaged when she was just 19 years old.
Shriver, 63, reported Font de Mora to the WTA after she passed by him in a hotel at the Australian Open in January, according to the outlet. Her decision to report the situation may have stemmed from her own experience of having an inappropriate relationship with a coach that began when she was 17.
Font de Mora has said that his relationship with Shaughnessy was platonic until she turned 18. The pair eventually broke up in 2005 before they ever got married.
Shaughnessy has never publicly come forward with allegations of any wrongdoing by Font de Mora.
The second complaint was issued by a player who asked to remain anonymous. She claimed that 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 confirmed the second complainant’s description of abuse. The player, who has not issued a complaint but was coached by Font de Mora, 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.’”
When contacted by the outlet about his response regarding the complaints in January, Font de Mora said, “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.”
Meanwhile, Stearns has not made any public complaints about Font de Mora regarding their time working together.
However, she did respond to rumors at the Australian Open when she was asked if she was familiar with Font de Mora’s alleged history on the WTA Tour. “Yeah, I mean, it’s been around, but I think right now, just not really going to dive into that, no comment,” she said at the time.
