"Way too much chaos" - Elena Rybakina winning Australian Open ruled out by tennis insider amid Stefano Vukov saga

Elena Rybakina is a former finalist at the Australian Open. She competed in the final in 2023 when Aryna Sabalenka won her maiden Grand Slam trophy. The expectations for this year aren't as high, but tennis analyst Jon Wertheim does not believe she'll progress far at the Australian Open.

Being one of the top seeds, Rybakina will be confident of at least reaching the second week of the Australian Open. But Wertheim believes that she won't even make it that far. He and former player Andy Roddick previewed the Australian Open draw for the 'Served with Andy Roddick' podcast, and within it, Wertheim shared why he doesn't believe that Rybakina will go that far.

"I just feel like there is way too much chaos here. There will be some interesting press conferences. Goran spoke briefly to Ben Rothenberg and confirmed what we've been hearing. This was not a planned personnel change. There is just way too much going on here." (17:56)

The chaos Wertheim has referenced is in regards to her coaching situation. She parted ways with Stefano Vukov last year after months of various rumors. She then rehired Vukov, but he was provisionally suspended by the WTA soon after due to an open investigation.

To make the situation more complicated, she hired Goran Ivanišević, who apparently wasn't aware that she was going to rehire Vukov. To Wertheim, it's just too much going on and he expects her performance to suffer because of it.

"I just think there is way too much chaos here. I don't think Elena Rybakina makes it to the weekend." (18:18)

Time will tell, but as he said, Elena Rybakina faced a number of problems even before these personal changes.

---

Elena Rybakina to face Emerson Jones in R1 of the Australian Open

Elena Rybakina got a really favorable draw for the 2025 Australian Open as she will face a wild card participant whom she will be confident of getting the better of in the first round.

Emerson Jones is a talented player, but Rybakina is quite experienced by now and should make it through to the second round comfortably.

The problem for her might lie in the later rounds of the draw, because she might have to face Dayana Yastremska, who had a really good run last year, or Lulu Sun, who is herself a very solid player.

The distractions off the court certainly won't help and ultimately Wertheim believes that they will prove costly. Having enjoyed a strong United Cup campaign in the lead-up, it will be interesting to see how Rybakina fares at the Australian Open.