2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina insisted her former coach Stefano Vukov did not mistreat her during their coaching partnership after it was revealed Vukov was under investigation of the Women’s Tennis Association.
A WTA spokesperson confirmed this week that Vukov was under investigation for allegedly violating the WTA code of conduct and was provisionally suspended from the tour until the investigation is completed.
“I can only say and I have said this before that he never mistreated me or it was never anything like that,” Rybakina said.
Vukov was Rybakina’s first full-time coach and he worked as the Kazakh player’s head coach for five years until their split in August last year. Rybakina then hired former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic as his new coach and the two officially began their collaboration during the offseason.
The United Cup this week marked their first tournament together. Ivanisevic spent five years as Novak Djokovic’s coach until 2024 and Djokovic has won 12 of his 24 Grand Slam titles under Ivanisevic’s tutelage.
On Wednesday, Rybakina announced that Vukov would return to her team immediately, but she did not specify what his role would be. Vukov is expected to be in Australia to accompany her to Melbourne, but although he is provisionally suspended, he will not be allowed to obtain accreditation for the Australian Open or enter the players’ private areas on site.
“I work with Goran,” Rybakina said. “I’m happy with the way we’ve been working now for a few weeks. As I also said, Stefano joins the team because I have known him for six years and there are many things we can do off the pitch too.
“Of course, I’m not really happy with the situation. I’m not happy with the comments I’m seeing, especially from people on the tour. They are active coaches, commentators. I don’t think that’s fair.
Vukov told The Athletic by SMS this week that he had “certainly never abused anyone”
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Vukov’s coaching style has been the subject of criticism from many soccer figures, including 22-time Grand Slam doubles champion Pam Shriver, who currently coaches Olympic silver medalist Donna Vekic.
Shriver responded to the news that Vukov would be joining her team with a message on “This is a very sad situation and my prayers go out to ER.”
Rybakina said: “The only thing I can say is that he never mistreated me. I have respect for him for everything he’s done from the very beginning, when I was (ranked) 200, all the way through what we’ve done, I don’t know. You can tell me other coaches who have had the same success with players who reached 200, then won the Grand Slam and ranked among the best.
theguardian