Elena Rybakina defends suspended former coach as WTA investigate claims of misconduct
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Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, has insisted that her former coach Stefano Vukov did not mistreat her during their coaching partnership after it was revealed that Vukov is under investigation by the Women’s Tennis Association. A WTA spokesperson confirmed this week that Vukov is being investigated for allegedly breaking the WTA’s code of conduct and he is provisionally suspended from the tour until the investigation has been concluded.
![[Elena Rybakina in action for Team Kazakhstan in the women’s singles semi-final of the United Cup.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/378e117f4fb6ac1313b841bd826af014f28f40f9/0_176_5315_3191/master/5315.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“I can only say and I said it already before that he never mistreated me or it was never anything like that,” said Rybakina. Vukov was Rybakina’s first full-time coach and he worked as the Kazakh player’s primary coach for five years until they split in August last year. Rybakina later hired the former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic as her new coach and the pair officially began their collaboration during the off-season.
![[Former doubles champion Pam Shriver has criticised Stefano Vukov’s coaching style.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5dd54783cc4cb3fe90476f96b3f7bb86bf1d30f3/0_49_2754_1653/master/2754.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The United Cup this week marked their first tournament together. Ivanisevic spent five years as Novak Djokovic’s coach until 2024 and Djokovic won 12 of his 24 grand slam titles under Ivanisevic’s tutelage. On Wednesday, Rybakina announced that Vukov would be returning to her team immediately but she did not specify what his role would be. Vukov is expected to be in Australia to accompany her in Melbourne but while he is provisionally suspended, he will not be permitted to attain accreditation for the Australian Open and enter any of the private player areas on-site.
“I’m working with Goran,” said Rybakina. “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.
