Elena Rybakina hits back at ‘unfair’ comments from former world No 1 in Stefano Vukov controversy
Elena Rybakina admits her coaching situation remains “unclear” as she is not fully clued up on the WTA’s case against Stefano Vukov, but has again insisted “he never mistreated me”.
Vukov coached the 2022 Wimbledon winner from 2019 until 2024 when he left her team under mysterious circumstances ahead of the US Open.
Rybakina announced during the latter stages of the 2025 season that former men’s world No 2 Goran Ivanisevic – who coached the great Novak Djokovic until March 2024 – would join her set-up ahead of the new campaign.
However, just days into the new season it was revealed that Vukov is back on the coaching team even though he remains suspended by the WTA for reasons that are yet to be made public.
Vukov has not received accreditation for the Australian Open and when asked what role he will play on her team in Melbourne, Rybakina replied: “Well, first of all, with the whole situation I don’t want to speak much about what’s going to be next.
“But definitely I don’t agree with a lot of things the WTA did in the sense of my relationship with Stefano. As I said before, I have never made any complaints or said any of these things [that the media accused me of saying]. I always said he never mistreated me.
“[But] I don’t want to speak about this situation any more. I want to focus on my matches here.”
She added: “It’s not an ideal situation, as I said, I am not happy with the situation when still some coaches are making some comments and the people who are not so close to the tennis world they see the comments and then they pick it up and make even more [of a] show out of this, I don’t think it’s fair.
“But my goal here is to focus on the matches and this is what I am going to do.”
21-time women’s doubles Grand Slam winner Pam Shriver has been one of the most outspoken critics of Vukov as she was unimpressed with the way he communicated with Rybakina during as he often appeared to shout at her.
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Back in 2022, Shriver opened up about being abused by her coach while she was still a teenager and she has urged tennis authorities to address similar issues in women’s sport.
When she was pressed again on Vukov’s role, Rybakina said: “As I said, I am not going to speak about it as the situation is not clear from the WTA.”
Asked about whether or not she knows why Pam Shriver is so outspoken, she replied: “Pam Shriver, I don’t know her personally. She never came to me, never talked with me but I know her story. It’s sad but it doesn’t mean other players are facing the same issues. Since she doesn’t know me I don’t think it’s fair to make any comments like that, especially being an active coach and a commentator.”
