Elena Rybakina ‘suffering from psychological problems’ due to former coach’s ‘pressure, insults, bad words’
Now that additional information has surfaced, Andy Roddick has cautioned that “there’s an impending feeling of bad news coming” regarding Elena Rybakina’s breakup with her coach Stefano Vukov. On the eve of the US Open in August, Rybakina made the announcement that she and Vukov had broken up after five years of dating. Their greatest victory came from winning the Wimbledon championship in 2022, and the Kazakh player also peaked at No. 3 in the WTA Rankings. First, Vukov faced criticism at the 2023 Australian Open for his interactions with Rybakina during games. Some accused him of being overly aggressive in his gestures.
The Kazakh player defended her coach publicly and she continued to be one of the main players on the Tour as the pair won title after title.
But the 2024 season has been a difficult one for the 25-year-old as she has withdrawn from a dozen tournaments due to health and fitness problems.
Recently she pulled out of the US Open shortly before her second-round match and has also skipped the Korea Open and this week’s China Open.
Ahead of the Asian swing, former world No 1 Roddick stated: “There’s obviously more to the story but we can’t have an opinion on something you don’t know anything about.”
He added: “Her coach got banned from [the Tour] – there’s a coaching list of available coaches and they kicked him off. You don’t get kicked off for nothing.”
