Elena Rybakina tears into Pam Shriver over controversial 'abuse' speculation with her and Stefano Vukov

Elena Rybakina has addressed the wild speculation surrounding her relationship with her controversial coach Stefano Vukov. Many prominent members of the tennis community, like Andy Roddick, Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs, and renowned journalist Jon Wertheim, have shared their concerns about the partnership, with Rybakina particularly expressing her frustration with Pam Shriver's contentious comments.

As Rybakina gears up for the 2025 Australian Open, her campaign has been overshadowed by the discourse surrounding her decision to rehire Vukov, despite splitting with him before the 2024 US Open and partnering with Goran Ivanisevic as his replacement.

While their dynamic was already seen as problematic due to Vukov's perceived aggressive behavior during the World No. 6's matches, the concerns intensified after the WTA provisionally suspended the Croatian and launched an investigation against him.

Pam Shriver issued a strongly worded statement in light of the new developments, asserting that the sport needed to address the "abuse and cult-like manipulations" of players, which earned her backlash from tennis fans.

During her pre-tournament press conference in Melbourne, Elena Rybakina expressed her annoyance with Pam Shriver for commenting on the situation without knowing her personally. The Kazakh acknowledged Shriver's sad experience with an "inappropriate and damaging relationship with her much older coach" but firmly asserted that she wasn't in the same situation.

"Well, I get that one of coaches... But I'm sure I don't know her personally. She never came to me, never talked with me, but I know her story. It's sad, but it doesn't mean other players facing the same issues. Since she doesn't know me, I don't know her, I don't think it's fair to make any comments like that, especially being an active coach, being commentator, journalist, so on," Elena Rybakina said.

Rybakina also made it clear that she opposed the WTA's investigation into Stefano Vukov, emphasizing that the Croatian had never mistreated her and that she had never raised any complaints about his behavior.

"Well, first of all, like with the whole situation, I don't want to speak much about what's going to be next. But definitely, as I said before, I don't agree with a lot of things what WTA do in the sense of my relationship with Stefano," she said.

"As I said before, I have never made any complaints or any of these things. I always said that he never mistreated me. That's one thing. Since this situation how it is now, I don't really want to speak about this more. I want to focus on my matches here," she added.

Elena Rybakina: "I'm not happy with the whole situation, especially when still some coaches are making some comments"

Elena Rybakina - Source: Getty

During the same press conference, Elena Rybakina conveyed her dissatisfaction with the situation since Stefano Vukov wouldn't be able to join coach Goran Ivanisevic in her player's box.

The World No. 6 also reiterated her frustration with the speculation from coaches and commentators on her and Vukov's relationship, which she argued attracted unnecessary media attention from beyond the tennis world.

"Well, definitely not the ideal situation. As I said, I'm not happy with the whole situation, especially when still some coaches are making some comments, and the people who are not so close to the tennis world, they just see the comments and then they're picking it up, make even more show out of this. I don't think it's fair, too. But as I said, my goal is here to focus on the matches," Elena Rybakina said.

Despite the controversy, Elena Rybakina emphasized her desire to focus on her campaign for her maiden Australian Open title as she gears up to take on local teenager Emerson Jones in her opening match.