Elena Rybakina Reveals Whether She Had Talks with WTA for Stefano Vukov Ban After CEO Photo Snub
Elena Rybakina clinched her career's first WTA Finals title with a straight-set win over Aryna Sabalenka.
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Elena Rybakina, Stefano Vukov (Image via X/Jose Moron)
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Elena Rybakina is the newest WTA Finals champion! On Saturday (November 8), she secured a straight-set win over Aryna Sabalenka to lift the biggest title of her career since the 2022 Wimbledon.
Rybakina dealt with lots of ups and downs earlier this season. More than her on-court performance, she made headlines all over the world because of her relationship with coach Stefano Vukov.
The WTA banned the Croatian coach after allegations of abusive conduct toward his protege, though both he and Rybakina denied that he ever broke the Code of Conduct. WTA CEO Portia Archer wrote in a letter to Vukov that it was clear to her he had a “toxic relationship” with the Kazakh ace. After the ban, Vukov appealed, and the ban was overturned.
After Rybakina’s win over Sabalenka, when it was time for the customary photoshoot, the 2022 Wimbledon champion’s behavior clearly suggested there was still bad blood between her and the WTA.
After posing for the camera with Sabalenka, Rybakina walked away when Archer came up to join them. She was asked to join, but she denied. Later at the press conference, Rybakina was asked whether she and Vukov had talks with the WTA to clear the air, but the World No.6 denied the same.
I think we’re all doing our job, and we had the opportunity to have conversations, but in the end, it never happened, so we’re all doing our job, and I think we’re going to keep it this way.
Last year, on the eve of the US Open, Rybakina announced her split with Vukov and later added Goran Ivanisevic to her team. But earlier this year, when she re-hired Vukov, Novak Djokovic‘s former coach was reportedly blindsided by the decision and ended the partnership after her Australian Open exit.
Elena Rybakina summarizes her WTA Finals campaign
Elena Rybakina certainly was not the heavy favorite when she arrived in Riyadh for the season-ending championships. She was already complaining of tiredness and had also injured her shoulder.
She, in fact, was the last player to qualify for the event. Rybakina and Mirra Andreeva were fighting for the eighth spot, and the former, with her Ningbo Open win as well as her two-match wins in the Pan Pacific Open, finally grabbed the spot. After becoming the first woman representing an Asian to end the WTA Finals in her favor, Rybakina summarized her campaign at the post-match press conference.
There are many challenges when you go from tournament to tournament, even if the trips are not very long, but you need to adjust to the new conditions each week, the new balls, learn to control all this. I faced my first match after just two training sessions. It was not easy, but we focused everything on my service advantage. We always tried to go for short exchanges, being very aggressive throughout the tournament. I had to seize every opportunity as soon as possible, as the best players do not usually offer many.
Rybakina also ended the season with the most aces hit this season, a total of 516, including 13 in the final and 48 in the WTA Finals. The 26-year-old ended the season with three titles to her name. Prior to the WTA Finals and the Ningbo Open, she also clinched the Strasbourg Open.
She has improved her head-to-head lead over Aryna Sabalenka to 6-8. For Sabalenka, it was the second time she lost in the championship clash of the WTA Finals, following the 2022 season (lost to Caroline Garcia). But Rybakina, before this season, had never progressed beyond the round-robin stage. On Monday, the former World No.3 will officially be the World No.5 player.
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