Elena Rybakina Addresses Controversial Coach Stefano Vukov’s Presence During Her US Open Campaign

Elena Rybakina had made a lot of headlines earlier this year when reports about the conduct of her coach, Stefano Vukov, emerged. Even though he was time and again accused of behaving badly with Rybakina and harassing her, the latter only denied the accusations.

Vukov was initially banned for a year, but upon appeal, the ban was overturned after seven months. The Croatian is now part of Rybakina’s box at the US Open.

Rybakina will be playing the US Open fourth round for the first time in her career. On Friday (August 29), she breezed past Emma Raducanu 6-1, 6-2, and at the press conference later, she was asked about Vukov.

This year I tried with a new coach. Didn’t work out in the beginning, so the results were not the same as previous years. But for now, I think we are managing and getting closer to where I want to be… I’m happy with how the work is going right now.

The coach Rybakina hired at the start of the year was Goran Ivanisevic. It was Ivanisevic’s first coaching job since his split with 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in March last year. The partnership didn’t work as he was reportedly blindsided by Rybakina’s decision to re-hire Vukov. He left her team after her Australian Open exit and later joined Stefanos Tsitsipas‘ team, but that partnership also didn’t work after he publicly criticized the Greek ace’s work ethic.

It was under Vukov that Rybakina reached the No.3 rankings and won her career’s first Grand Slam title at the 2022 Wimbledon. This year, Rybakina has not yet progressed beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament.

Emma Raducanu reflects on her match against Elena Rybakina

Raducanu has now crashed out of the 2025 Grand Slam events without making it past the third round, reaching the stage at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. She played her career’s second match against Elena Rybakina and now trails 0-2 in the head-to-head matchups.