Rybakina Supports Vukov: He Never Treated Me Badly

Written by Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Saturday, January 4, 2025
Photo credit: Elena Rybakina Instagram

Elena Rybakina the coach backs off Stefano Vukov-and calls out some coaches on the Tour for their criticism of him.

Last week, Rybakina announced that Vukov, who coached her for more than five years, is returning to her team as an assistant coach under the head coach. Goran Ivanisevic.

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After Rybakina’s announcement, Athletic news has emerged that Vukov is serving a suspended sentence that prevents him from obtaining a coaching certificate for this month’s Australian Open.

Other coaches and analysts, incl Pam Shriver and Rennae Stubbsthey criticized Vukov for the way he treated Rybakina.

World No. 6 Rybakina said that Vukov did not treat her badly—and she also said that she was not happy to see critical comments from other coaches.

“Yes, I’m not happy at all with this situation. I’m not happy with the opinions I see, especially from people on the tour,” said Rybakina to the media at the United Cup in Sydney. “Active coaches, analysts, I don’t think it’s right.

“Yes, but what I can say is, like, he never treated me badly. I respect him for everything he did from the beginning when I was 200 years old, all the way we did it, like, I don’t know. . You can name me other coaches who have been successful in the same way with players who have been 200 years old and won the Grand Slam and up.”

Ivanisevic, who has coached Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic in the Grand Slam tournament, was reportedly not involved in Vukov’s return and was struck by the news.

However, Rybakina said she was happy with the way her relationship with Ivanisevic was progressing, but did not say whether her new coach was happy with her former coach’s return to the team.

“Well, I work with Goran, and these articles came out, I mean, I can just say and I already said before that. [Stefano Vukov] He has never treated me badly or anything like that.

“I mean, I’m working with Goran. I’m happy with the way we’ve been working now for a few weeks. As I said, Stefano is coming back to the team because I’ve known him for six years, and there’s a lot of things we can do outside the court.”