Elena Rybakina Discusses Future Of Coach Ivanisevic After Australian Open Loss
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Elena Rybakina lost in the fourth round of the 2025 Australian Open, and after her loss, she spoke about the future of her new coach, Goran Ivanisevic, in her team.
Rybakina certainly didn't have the Australian Open she wanted to have. As a former finalist and a natural on the hard courts, she was one of the favorites, but she lost already in the fourth round.
After beating teenagers Emerson Jones and Iva Jovic, and also Dayana Yastremska, the Kazakhstani player was eliminated by Madison Keys in three sets, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6.
Prior to the match, Rybakina struggled with an injury that she picked up in her previous match, and while the former Wimbledon champion felt pain after the match, she didn't want to blame the loss on the injury.
"Well yesterday I did a full day of recovery and some treatments. It was better this match than the previous one, definitely. But now after the match is done, I still have some pain, so this is something I need to take time to rest, to heal and to continue to work."
During her post-match press conference, the WTA World No. 7 was also asked about one of the most controversial topics of this year's Australian Open.
She rehired coach Stefano Vukov, even though he's currently being investigated by the WTA. Rybakina was not happy that he couldn't be present in Melbourne, and she spoke about it also after her loss.
"As I said before, this is not the situation I want to be or someone wants to be in. Of course, I want to have who I want 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, I think."
With Vukov's reappointment, the position of her new coach, Goran Ivanisevic, immediately came into question. It's not something that the 53-year-old Croatian expected, even though he stayed with Rybakina during the Australian Open.
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At the start of the tournament, Ivanisevic hinted that this was not a situation he wanted to be in. Therefore, also Rybakina said after her exit that they have to talk about their future after the tournament.
"Well, we still need to talk of course. We just tried the pre-season and these couple of tournaments. It was something we were just getting used to each other. We will definitely talk how the next schedule is going to look like."
It wouldn't be surprising if Rybakina and Ivanisevic parted ways after the Australian Open. In the comments made after Vukov's reappointment became public, Ivanisevic didn't seem to be thrilled.
At the end of the day, if Rybakina starts working with Vukov again, she might not need two coaches, especially since neither of them knew they would have to co-work with someone else.
