“He never mistreated me” – Rybakina says comments from active coaches, commentators on Vukov are unfair
The former Wimbledon champion confirmed that she is continuing to work with Goran Ivanisevic even as Vukov is back in her team
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Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina has made her first public comments about Stefano Vukov since news of the Croatian coach being provisionally suspended by the WTA Tour became public.
Rybakina and Vukov parted ways in August prior to the US Open after a five-year stint. The Kazakh hired former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic as her coach in November but earlier this week confirmed that Vukov would rejoin her team. That news was followed by the WTA Tour issuing a statement that Vukov was provisionally suspended for a potential breach of the tour’s Code of Conduct.
On Saturday after Kazakhstan went down to Poland in the United Cup semi-finals, Rybakina was asked about the situation in the media room and the 25-year-old confirmed that Vukov had never mistreated her, adding that comments from other coaches on the tour and commentators on the issue are unfair.
“Of course I’m not really happy with the situation. I’m not happy with the comments which I see, especially from the people who are on the tour. It’s active coaches, commentators. I don’t think that it’s fair,” Rybakina said.
“The only thing I can say is, like, he never mistreated me. I have respect to him for everything he did from the very beginning when I was 200 all the way what we did. You can name me other coaches who had the same success with players who have been 200 and then winning Grand Slam and being in the top.”
You can name me other coaches who had the same success with players who have been 200 and then winning Grand Slam and being in the top.
Rybakina also confirmed that Ivanisevic will continue to be part of her team and that she can work with Vukov on things outside the court, while he remains suspended by the Tour. While he remains suspended, Vukov cannot get a credential to a tennis tournament or access to the practice courts.
“Well, I’m working with Goran, and these articles came out. I can only say and I said it already before that he never mistreated me or it was never anything like that. I’m working with Goran. I’m happy the way we work now for the couple of weeks. As I also said, that Stefano is rejoining the team because I know the person for six years, and there is a lot of things we can do outside of the court too.”
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