With Murray back in her corner on Tuesday night, Stephens also lost her first-round match, to the qualifier Anna Kalinskaya, 6-3, 6-4. Though the loss added to a disappointing season for her, Stephens said she took away positives from the early exit, particularly in her refreshed attitude and her comfort with Murray back by her side.

“At this point, to kind of combat what I’ve been feeling on the court, I need a lot of energy, I need good vibes,” Stephens said. “I was joking earlier today I need to practice my fist pump because I’ve been so out of it, the competitiveness hasn’t been there. Today it was back a little bit. ”

Puig said she had not spoken to Murray since finding out he had left her to work with Stephens. Nor has she talked to Stephens; the players had trained alongside each other through their adolescences under the coach Nick Saviano. Puig’s version of events was supported by her agent, Marijn Bal, who called the news “a total shock.”

While the timing of the split was unfortunate for Puig, a Murray-Stephens reunion was not a surprise. Murray had worked with Stephens from 2016 to 2018, guiding her to the 2017 U.S. Open title, though the two were “on a break” this year, according to Murray.

“We just hadn’t done a good job of communicating when the end of that break was,” Murray said this month at an event outside Cincinnati, which was ultimately his last tournament with Puig. “Miscommunication on both sides, blah blah blah. Opportunities come, and you take opportunities. I think everyone has learned that communication is key, and no one should be in between the player and the coach. Everyone will be more clear moving forward.”

After Murray began to work with Puig this year, Stephens hired Sven Groeneveld. But after continuing a disappointing year with a lopsided loss in Cincinnati, Stephens dumped Groeneveld and reunited with Murray. The problem, Puig said, is that Murray did not make that clear to her. After her loss on Tuesday, Stephens expressed frustration with Puig’s comments.

“I think there’s two sides to every story; I don’t think that you should tell anything but the truth,” Stephens said. “I’ve seen some of the things that were said. I think that grown-ups do grown-up things; we should leave it in the past and we should move on.”