Controversy continues for Elena Rybakina, spotted training with banned coach Stefano Vukov at private club

Elena Rybakina has been spotted with banned coach Stefano Vukov as they continue to aim to circumnavigate the rules surrounding the involvement of the Croat who is banned for a year from the WTA Tour. They trained at a private club with images emerging as she heads towards the clay court swing.

Disturbing details earlier in the year emerged of Vukov's abuse of the former Wimbledon Champion which led to an investigation by the WTA and he was banned from the tour for around a year. They had been together as a tandem since 2019 and parted ways in August 2024 due to their differences.

However Rybakina again added him at the beginning of this year alongside Goran Ivanisevic which caught the legendary ex player and coach of Novak Djokovic off guard and he promptly left the setup. After being banned, further details emerged of Vukov trying to get to her and harassing her at the US Open after he was disposed of as well as leaving a litany of text messages.

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The ban outlined that Vukov was barred from receiving a WTA credential which means at tournaments, he cannot be with her. However a young player who trained with Rybakina at a private tennis club unintentionally revealed that Vukov was there.

With these courts being outside of the jurisdiction of the WTA and seemingly being in the UAE, Rybakina and Vukov have likely found a loophole to keep working together ahead of the clay court season when she will head off for Kazakhstan duty at the Billie Jean King Cup.

With these images dropping, social media was awash with confusion from tennis fans wondering why he was there and some saying they were done supporting Rybakina after failing to move on from Vukov.

For comparison, Jannik Sinner for instance who is banned from the sport until May can still play in Monte Carlo. So can still practice so any court outside of ATP/WTA jurisdiction circumnavigates the ban placed on Vukov who is known to be in contact with her current coach Davide Sanguinetti.

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