'It's time': WTA investigating 'inappropriate' conduct linked to coach of Peyton Stearns
- Christian Montegan
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
The WTA Tour has been rocked by "inappropriate" coaching allegations, raised by two former players, including former world No.3 Pam Shriver, according to The Athletic.
Those complaints are directed at Peyton Stearns' current coach, Rafael Font de Mora, with the WTA now swiftly taking action to get to the bottom of alleged misconduct and inappropriate relationships with players during previous coaching stints.
Font de Mora has recently started coaching again after remaining absent from the professional scene for several years.
The Athletic added: "The other former player who filed a complaint, and all the other sources in this story, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, and to protect relationships in tennis."
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Shriver, who also escalated the allegations to the US Centre for SafeSport, is referring to Font de Mora's past relationship with a player he coached in the 1990s and early 2000s, with the player being Meghann Shaughnessy, who left her family home to live with Font de Mora when she was 14 and he was 25, among other tennis players.
The pair got engaged five years later, with Shriver revealing that the five-year relationship was sexually and emotionally abusive.
However, when The Athletic approached Shaughnessy to be interviewed, she declined.
As pressure intensifies, Font de Mora denies the allegations.
"Your questions are statements that are not true," he wrote. "I coordinate my training and sprints with professional trainers and biomechanist(s) and I am a very positive coach."
Font de Mora provided The Athletic with the contact details of Stearns and her trainer, Kathryn Whartenby, arguing that the pair would give "an exact idea" of his methods. Stearns has spoken positively about her Spanish coach.
The second player who issued a complaint against Font de Mora wishes to remain anonymous but claims he displayed aggressive, physical and verbally abusive behaviour toward her, telling The Athletic she was sworn at and had tennis balls hit in her direction.
A similar story of abuse made headlines last year, when Elena Rybakina's coach, Stefano Vukov, had his ban lifted by the WTA.
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