“I wanted to have who I wanted in the coaching box” – Elena Rybakina opens up on coach Stefano Vukov being banned from 2025 Australian Open

After her exit from the 2025 Australian Open, Elena Rybakina addressed the absence of her coach, Stefano Vukov, and hinted at uncertainty regarding her future with new coach Goran Ivanisevic.

The former Wimbledon champion was defeated by Madison Keys in the fourth round, with the in-form American winning 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Prior to the tournament, the WTA had provisionally suspended Vukov, preventing him from being present in Rybakina’s coaching box during the Grand Slam.

Rybakina acknowledged that she would have preferred to have Vukov by her side during the tournament. When asked if his absence impacted her performance, she said, “As I said before, this is not the situation I want to be in. Of course, I wanted to have who I wanted to have in the box, but I couldn’t change it. At the end of the day, I just tried to focus on my matches, and I spoke with him. I also have Goran, so it didn’t affect the way I played today or any of the results.”

When asked about Ivanisevic’s future role in her team, the 25-year-old explained that no final decision had been made yet. “We still need to talk, of course, because as I said, we just tried the preseason and these couple of tournaments. It was something we were just getting used to, so we’ll talk and see what the schedule is going to look like.”