“Wasn’t the healthiest,” Former World No.9 puts ‘huge question mark’ on Elena Rybakina’s decision to rehire controversial coach Stefano Vukov
Elena Rybakina will now be working with both Goran Ivanisevic and Stefano Vukov, but her decision to rehire the latter has raised eyebrows.
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Elena Rybakina, Stefano Vukov (Images via X)
On Wednesday (January 1), Elena Rybakina shocked the tennis community by announcing on social media that she has decided to work with former coach Stefano Vukov again. Rybakina and Vukov had parted ways four months ago, right before the 2024 US Open.
Rybakina’s decision raised many eyebrows, and former World No.9 CoCo Vandeweghe doesn’t think positively about the development. She questioned the Kazakh ace why she rehired Vukov after joining forces with Novak Djokovic‘s former coach Goran Ivanisevic.
As we saw, in just different snippets, it wasn’t the healthiest of relationships when they did split, so I’m kind of putting a huge question mark out here. Why this decision-making? You’ve just signed on Goran, why would you go back to the old? You’re here for a new voice and a different kind of perspective, so why would you go back to an old coach that… maybe it wasn’t the healthiest.
CoCo Vandeweghe told Tennis Channel
Though the 33-year-old American was shocked by the decision, she told the critics to trust the World No.6. Vandeweghe called the partnership unhealthy because of Vukov’s behavior during matches.
There were also rumors of Rybakina dealing with psychological pressure under Vukov which caused the split last year. Rybakina however has always defended him whenever asked to comment on their collaboration.
Prakash Amritraj gives his verdict on Elena Rybakina’s decision to rehire Stefano Vukov
Former player Prakash Amritraj said if a collaboration doesn’t end on a good note, it would take time to sort things out before either party decides to join hands again. But as it wasn’t the case in Elena Rybakina’s situation, the Indian only hoped that Goran Ivanisevic’s opinions would still be strong after Stefano Vukov‘s addition to the team.
I was very excited about the Ivanisevic pairing, I thought that would be really cool, given Goran’s expertise, his personality, Elena being a lot more ice and cool. But he’s still there, hopefully, his voice will still be a strong one in there, but we all have to make our own decisions. Elena’s a great champ and she made this one.
Prakash Amritraj told Tennis Channel
The 25-year-old, who chose not to defend her Brisbane International title, is in Perth where she helped Kazakhstan reach the semifinals at the United Cup. Kazakhstan will lock horns with last year’s finalist Poland who beat Great Britain to advance to the last four.
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Gouri Das
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