By Chris Oddo | Monday, July 28, 2014

 

After ending her partnership with Miles Maclagan, Sam Stosur will begin the hard court season with coach Simon Rea at her side.

Photo Source: Herald Sun

After parting ways with Miles Maclagan in June, former U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur is turning to Nick Kyrgios’s former coach for an infusion of winning tennis.

Simon Rea, a former New Zealand tour player who reached a career-high ranking of 473 in 2007, has been hired Stosur on an interim basis.

Rea was Kyrgios’s coach through Wimbledon, at which time the 19-year-old who upset Rafael Nadal decided he wanted to move back to Canberra to conduct his training. Due to geographical reasons (Canberra is a seven-hour drive from Melbourne) Kyrgios and the 32-year-old Rea parted ways.

Stosur split with Maclagan prior to Wimbledon. After her long-lasting relationship with David Taylor came to an end at the end of last season, the Aussie managed a 19-15 record with Andy Murray’s former coach, and came close to knocking off Maria Sharapova at this year’s French Open.

The 30-year-old Queenslander, currently ranked 19 in the world, will have to hit the ground running with Rea. Stosur won two titles and reached two finals during the 2014 hard court season. According to the Australian, her post-Wimbledon points account for two-thirds of her current ranking points. But with good performances at Montreal, Cincinnati and the U.S. Open, she could balance things out a bit. Stosur reached the round of 16 in Canada and Cincinnati last year, before being knocked out of the U.S. Open in the first round by Victoria Duval.

Stosur has begun working with Rea at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California this week.

She was a 4-6, 7-6(7) 7-5 upset victim to Japan’s Naomi Osaka in first-round action on Monday.