Russia’s former Grand Slam-winner, Maria Sharapova, has split from coach Jimmy Connors after just one match together.
The world number three, who announced after Wimbledon that Connors will be taking over from her former coach Thomas Hogstedt, will be without a coach before the US Open which starts August 26.
But in her first game under the 60-year-old, Sharapova lost to American Sloane Stephens at the Cincinnati Open on Tuesday.
“It’s not the right fit for this time in my career,” Sharapova said in a statement.
The American, Connors, watched from the stand as Sharapova, who was returning from a seven-week injury lay-off, made 62 unforced errors in her loss to Stephens.
Sharapova worked with Connors in 2008 just before the Australia Open.
She won three Grand Slam tournaments between 2004 and 2008, adding the French Open in 2012 to complete a career Grand Slam.
Connors had previously coached Andy Roddick, who he helped reach the final of the US Open in 2006, the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2007 and the quarter-finals of both Wimbledon and the US Open that year before they split in March 2008.
He won five US Open titles, Wimbledon twice and the Australian Open once as a player, topping the world rankings from July 1974 to August 1977.
