After remark on Mirra Andreeva's coach, Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs reveals shocking reality of women coaches at Miami Open

Serena Williams's former coach Rennae Stubbs recently revealed that female coaches have been allotted smaller locker rooms than the men at the Miami Open in Florida. Stubbs is now on the WTA Tour with doubles World No. 17 Ellen Perez.

An ardent supporter of women in tennis, Stubbs recently acknowledged Conchita Martinez's role in Mirra Andreeva's rise with a cheeky remark on social media after the young superstar triumphed at the Indian Wells Open.

A couple of days later, Stubbs released a new episode of her podcast where she rued the disparity between men's and women's coaches' facilities at the Hard Rock Stadium, the home to Miami Open.

"I put out a funny tweet about ‘Women Can Coach’, clearly referring to Conchita Martinez and it’s funny because being here in Miami, I walked into the… you go underneath the arena, that’s where all the locker rooms are. I walked in there and literally the first sign I saw to my right was ‘MEN’S COACHES' LOCKER ROOM’. It was in neon lights... massive," she said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast (at 8:50), adding:

"So I looked to my right and I’m like, ‘Okay, where’s the women’s?’ So, I’m looking around for that neon sign right… I go around the hallway. Then I see the women’s players’ locker room, men’s players’ locker room and I’m like ‘Where's the women's coaches locker room? Where's our neon sign?’"

The Aussie coach then revealed a Miami Open operative directed her to the women coaches' locker room, which she found to be of underwhelming capacity.

"So I said to one of the women working in the tournament, ‘Hey, where’s the women’s coaches locker?’," Stubbs recalled. "And she said, ‘Oh it’s just down there… you see that little sign that says laundry, it’s over there in the left, go in that door.’ So we are opposite the players’ laundry area… and it is the size of a shoe box.

"So there’s like eight stalls in there and open shower and one toilet. I just walked in and died… ‘NO WOMEN’S LOCKER ROOM, BIG NEON SIGN IS UP THERE… NO NO NO!’ I know there’s clearly a lot more men’s coaches but it’s just the irony."

---

Rennae Stubbs to Miami Open and other tournaments: "Give us a bigger locker room"

Rennae Stubbs (Getty)

Further, during the same episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Rennae Stubbs mentioned sharing the Miami Open locker room with Agnieszka Radwanska (Magda Linette's coach), Kirsten Flipkens (Karolina Muchova's coach), Nicole Pratt (Australia's Billie Jean King Cup team coach), Sandra Zaniewska (Marta Kostyuk's coach) and other colleagues.

"So when I was in there yesterday, it was quite full actually," Stubbs said. "So there’s actually more of us than I realized like… Radwanska was in there, Kirsten Flipkens, Nicole Pratt, I’m in there, of course Conchita Martinez, Zaniewska. And a couple of Japanese girls have women coaches so it’s getting more and more."

She continued:

"So I just want to shout out to the tournaments, ‘TRY TO GIVE US A BIGGER LOCKER ROOM, OKAY?’"

While the locker room debate gets settled, Renna Stubbs is also focused on improving the tennis of Ellen Perez, who's due to play her doubles opener at the Miami Open alongside Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko against the duo of Anastasia Potapova and Yulia Putintseva.