Rybakina 'Brainwashed' By Coach Vukov Says Ex-Player, Confirms Romance Rumors
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Eurosport presenter Barbara Schett has claimed that Goran Ivanisevic spoke to her about Stefano Vukov wanting to be back on Elena Rybakina's team again. Schett also strongly condemned Vukov in her comments about him.
Ivanisevic became Rybakina's coach during the off-season. She suddenly split with Vukov a few days before the 2024 US Open in August, before withdrawing from the tournament and not playing for two months.
How painful that parting was meant many could scarcely believe it when she announced on New Year's Day that Vukov would rejoin her team. That led to the WTA confirming that the Croatian was being investigated on suspicion of mistreating her during their time together.
The WTA recently announced that Vukov had been suspended for a year after finding multiple instances of him subjecting her to verbal abuse and doing other shocking things like throwing balls at the Kazakhstani.
Ivanisevic, who was clearly blindsided by Rybakina's desire to have Vukov on her team again, split with the former Wimbledon champion after the 2025 Australian Open without publicly revealing the reasons for his decision.
However, Schett told the Austrian outlet Kicker that she has talked to Ivanisevic about Vukov, who says Rybakina and her former coach being in a romantic relationship complicated the situation and that Vukov wants to get back on her team through that route.
"I spoke about the subject for a long time with Goran Ivanisevic. He said the problem is that they are in a private relationship. Vukov wants to sneak in and get his place on the team back. That is obviously a disaster. He has to get out of her life after everything he has done."
"I heard in Australia what he shouted from the players' box. That is simply not acceptable. That is why I think it is great that the WTA is protecting its players and has drawn consequences."
Schett expressed personal disdain for Vukov. She believes he has brainwashed Rybakina and supports the WTA's decision to suspend him from the Tour and from working with the Kazakhstani.
"In my opinion, he subjected Elena to complete brainwashing. You can see how he treats her and how he speaks to her. Things escalated at the 2024 US Open and the team and family tried to remove him."
"We know that she has major ups and downs mentally, probably because of him. He definitely abused her mentally and that's why I think it's right that he was banned from the WTA."
Rybakina recently mentioned that other WTA players had not reached out to support her. Schett feels that is due to them being worried about the consequences. She remembered being afraid of Jelena Dokic's father, who subjected his daughter to horrific abuse.
"The problem is that many players don't dare to say anything because they're afraid of personal consequences. For example, I was incredibly afraid of Jelena Dokic's father. I probably would never have said anything because I thought he would kill me."
"It was perhaps a little different with Dokic than with Rybakina because she was also beaten, but in your mid-20s you may not yet know what's really going on. Maybe you don't find it as tragic as you do later. But I think that a number of players have already spoken to the WTA about Rybakina and Vukov. It's important that anonymity is preserved because they're simply afraid."
