"Where there’s smoke, there’s probably fire": Investigation into Elena Rybakina's ex-coach Stefano Vukov backed by Coco Vandeweghe

Tennis Channel analyst and former top 10 player Coco Vandeweghe has backed the decision by the WTA to investigate the former coach of Elena Rybakina Stefano Vukov who was suspended pending an investigation on code of conduct violations earlier this week.

Vukov had ironically returned to the Elena Rybakina fold in a move that blindsided Goran Ivanisevic it seemed and set the tennis world spiralling into lots of different perspectives until a bombshell report by The Athletic which said that not only is he suspended but Rybakina might boycott the Australian Open if he is not allowed to be there.

Vandeweghe was left puzzled initially anyway earlier this week when he was suddenly rehired and that hasn't changed albeit more in the direction this time of backing the decision to investigate.

“I’m sorry, but where there’s smoke, there’s probably fire,” Vandeweghe said on Tennis Channel Live as per Tennis.com. “Sometimes, other people need to protect you if you can’t protect yourself, and that’s what the tours are trying to do from what they have seen and learned about Vukov.

“As much as I want to trust Elena Rybakina’s opinion and choices, I’ve seen some other images and I think we all have in matches that Vukov is not the kindest to her.”

But also she would be surprised to see Goran Ivanisevic continue who was known to be blindsided by the news. “I’d be surprised if we see Goran at AO,” continued Vandeweghe. “I think this kind of movement going on the coaching carousel that is Elena Rybakina’s team, I wouldn’t want to be the new coach that’s supposed to be the new coach for Elena Rybakina and bringing in an old voice again. That means you don’t trust me enough to make you better, put you in that next step forward, which is what Elena Rybakina was looking for.”

“It’s never easy, especially when you’ve had a long relationship with someone, to be able to draw boundaries if those boundaries need to be drawn,” echoed fellow Tennis Channel Live analyst Prakash Amritraj. “Rybakina has this beautiful light about her; we don’t want to see her down, we don’t want to see her dim. Hopefully, she can make the healthiest decision for herself, but there’s certainly miscommunication and contradiction in what seems to be going on.”