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Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina’s preparation for the Australian Open, which got underway on Sunday, was off to a rocky start after her longtime coach Stefano Vukov was provisionally suspended by the WTA. The Russian-born Kazakh player further criticised the Florida-based organisation’s decision after reiterating that she had never made a compliant regarding Vukov in the first place and objected to comments made by “some coaches”, mentioning 22-time doubles Grand Slam champion Pam Shriver by name.
The WTA opened an investigation into Vukov earlier this week for an alleged breach of its code of conduct, resulting in a provisional suspension for the Croat as a result of which he cannot receive accreditation for the tournament or visit private player areas.
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“I don’t agree with a lot of things what the WTA do in the sense of my relationship with Stefano," Rybakina, seeded sixth at the Australian Open, said in Melbourne.
“As I said before, I have never made any complaints or any of these things. I always said that he never mistreated me. That’s one thing. Since this situation is how it is now, I don’t really want to speak about this more. I want to focus on my matches here,” she added.
Vukov had coached Rybakina for five years, with the 25-year-old winning the 2022 Wimbledon under his guidance, before parting ways last August before the US Open. Rybakina would then hire 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, who had coached 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic for 12 years.
Rybakina, however, made a surprise announcement at the United Cup in which she revealed Vukov would be rejoining her team for the Australian Open. The WTA’s investigation, however, has put paid to those plans for now.
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Ivanisevic, meanwhile, isn’t sure of his future with Rybakina, adding that he would have a better idea once WTA’s investigation on Vukov was completed. “I am, for the moment, here. What’s going to happen in a couple of days, I don’t know. Hopefully I will stay, and hopefully everything is going to be OK. But let’s take day by day,” Ivanisevic told Bounces ahead of the Australian Open.
Rybakina, who had lost the 2023 Australian Open final against world No 1 and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, faces local wildcard Emerson Jones in the first round on Tuesday.
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