Elena Rybakina snubs WTA CEO Portia Archer during awards ceremony after Finals triumph

A peculiar moment occurred during the WTA Finals awards ceremony after Elena Rybakina refused to take a photograph alongside WTA CEO, Portia Archer. The former Wimbledon champion became the new WTA Finals champion after defeating Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6(0) on Saturday afternoon.

After receiving their awards and completing their respective speeches, both players proceeded to the official photos, which are customary at the end of every tournament, each posing with their trophies, in addition to the traditional photo with a representative of the organization. On this occasion, it was none other than Portia Archer, WTA CEO, who was scheduled to appear with Sabalenka and Rybakina.

However, the Kazakh refused—in images that were shared on social media. While Sabalenka held the trophy and posed with Archer, Rybakina stood aside, indicating that she would not pose for the photo, resulting in the CEO only taking the official picture with the Belarusian World No. 1.

The Kazakh has shown her discontent with the WTA in the past, which could explain her refusal to take the official photo. The new World No. 5 had a memorable controversy surrounding the ban of her coach, Stefano Vukov, who was accused of mistreatment toward Rybakina a couple of years ago and was eventually suspended from all official tennis association events or facilities—ATP, WTA, ITF, and associated country associations (like the Grand Slam tournaments).

Both Rybakina and Vukov denied the accusations, and despite Vukov leaving her team for a time—when he was replaced by Goran Ivanisevic—the Croatian coach eventually returned to work with Rybakina, operating from the sidelines without the possibility of participating in training at official sites.

"As part of the provisional suspension, Mr. Vukov is not eligible to obtain a WTA credential at this time," the WTA stated. "While the WTA does not typically comment on active investigations, we believe it is necessary to clarify this matter due to recent public statements that misrepresent the situation."

The situation did not sit well with Rybakina, who did not hesitate to voice her criticism against the WTA during the last Australian Open earlier this year. "I don't agree with a lot of things the 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."