How Elena Rybakina went from unexpected Grand Slam champion to getting sucked into never-ending controversy in a span of 2 rollercoaster years

It has been nearly two years since Elena Rybakina finally reached the top of women’s tennis. Despite winning Wimbledon in 2022, the Russian-born Kazakh had to keep fighting her way up because, due to the tournament’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players, no ATP or WTA ranking points were awarded.

Instead of immediately joining the sport’s elite, Rybakina spent the following months digging and grinding, while the tennis world seemed oddly indifferent to her Grand Slam success. Many treated her as a fluke champion, and the lack of respect for her status was clear when, at the next major—the US Open—she was scheduled to play her first-round match on a secondary court.

Typically, reigning Grand Slam winners are given top billing, but in her case, the organizers made an exception.Things started changing in early 2023. Rybakina reached the Australian Open final, where she lost a tight match to Aryna Sabalenka, only to defeat her a month later in the Indian Wells final, claiming her first WTA 1000 title.

Yet even then, the conversation wasn’t about her tennis. Instead, the media fixated on her allegedly toxic relationship with Croatian coach Stefano Vukov, whom she had been working with since 2019. Some in the tennis world criticized his courtside behavior, calling it inappropriate and overly negative, and the prevailing narrative became that she needed to separate from him.

Rybakina, however, stood by him, dismissing the controversy as media nonsense—just another case of people forming opinions about something they barely understood. Over time, the noise died down, though sporadic complaints about Vukov resurfaced. But the story took a sharp turn when, behind the scenes, WTA officials had already launched a formal investigation.

On January 31, five days after the Australian Open, WTA CEO Portia Archer informed Rybakina and Vukov of the results of that investigation. The conclusion? Vukov had severely violated the WTA’s code of conduct and was banned from coaching for a year. In addition, he was required to attend courses where, at 38 years old, he was apparently supposed to learn how to behave on a tennis court.

According to a three-page report obtained by The Athletic, Vukov’s violations included “abuse of authority and bullying behavior, compromising the player’s psychological, physical, and emotional well-being; physical and verbal abuse; and exploiting the relationship for his own personal and business interests at the expense of what was in the player’s best interest.”

In practice, that meant he regularly insulted Rybakina during training, calling her “stupid” and “retarded.” He once threw balls at her while shouting. Another time, he told her that without him, she’d still be in Russia “digging up potatoes.”Those who have observed their training sessions describe Vukov as one of those coaches who never stops talking.

Complaints about him had been trickling into the WTA for three years, even more over the past year which was coincidentally when Rybakina endured a lot of physical illness and other fitness issues.

Over the past two years, she has withdrawn from a significant number of tournaments, often under unclear circumstances. Things came to a head last August when she had been struggling with insomnia for weeks. During her second-round match at the Cincinnati Masters, she was so disoriented that Lovro Zovko—who occasionally coaches her through his role with the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation—had to repeatedly remind her of the score.

Elena Rybakina eventually parted ways with Stefano Vukov before the two started working together again

Elena Rybakina in action at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (Image Source: Getty)

A few days after the Cincinnati Masters, Rybakina finally cut ties with Vukov. Allegedly, she had tried to leave him before, but each time, he managed to talk her out of it. This time, it was official but Vukov refused to accept it, to the point where a member of her team had to physically remove him from the hotel where she was staying ahead of the US Open.

That was when the WTA officially launched its investigation and placed him under temporary suspension. Elena Rybakina withdrew from her second-round match at the US Open without stepping onto the court. She didn’t return to competition for two months, finally reappearing at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. And that’s when things took yet another bizarre turn. Despite everything, Vukov had somehow regained her trust.

Just weeks before the Australian Open, Rybakina announced her reunion with Vukov. This situation led Goran Ivanišević—who had briefly joined her team—to walk away almost immediately.

Rybakina remains unwavering on her stance, insisting that Vukov never mistreated her.

"Well, I'm working with Goran, and these articles came out, I mean, I can only say and I said it already before that he never mistreated me or it was never anything like that," the Kazakh said during the United Cup.

Elena Rybakina currently has 13 wins out of 18 matches so far in 2025. The Kazakh most recently competed at the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she reached the semifinals before losing to Mirra Andreeva.