"Player welfare will always come first": PTPA 'heavily involved' in Elena Rybakina, Stefano Vukov case, claims executive director

The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) executive director Ahmad Nassar has claimed that his organisation has been ‘heavily involved’ in the case regarding one-time Grand Slam winner Elena Rybakina and her coach Stefano Vukov.

Both individuals have been under the spotlight ever since it was revealed that the WTA decided to ban the 37-year-old for 12 months from coaching after being found guilty of misconduct. The decision made headlines as Vukov was set to return to the coaching team of Rybakin, who not so long ago decided to part ways with him and hire former coach of Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic, Goran Ivanisevic.

Once the news broke that Rybakina was ready to reunite with her former coach, Ivanisevic decided to part ways with the one-time Grand Slam winner. It was later reported in some news media outlets that both Rybakina and Vukov were involved in a romantic relationship.

PTPA’s executive director Nassar has been recently quoted in a report, in which he confirmed that his organisation is very ‘heavily involved’ in the case. "It's very high profile, and it's very... I'll just say we've been heavily involved, just not publicly. And I'll leave it at that," the he said while speaking to Ben Rothenberg. "Player welfare will always come first. So, Elena...yeah, we're heavily involved, just not publicly."

Back in February when the decision was announced, Rybakina was unhappy with the outcome. "I'm just disappointed with the situation, and how the process went. I'm not going to comment much more,” she said back then.

On the court, however, the Moscow-born star has been doing pretty well this season. Out of the six competitions that she participated in in 2025, Rybakina has managed to go as far as semifinal on two occasions and quarterfinal once. Her most recent outing was a big disappointment as she was knocked out of the Miami Open after losing to Ashlyn Krueger with a score of 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.