One of her biggest supporters is longtime coach Stefano Vukov, who bet with her during the 2020 Qatar Open that if she won the Wimbledon championship, he would tattoo her name.
In her most recent interview with The Guardian, Rybakina expressed her amazement at Vukov's decision to honor the wager by getting her name and the day she died tattooed on his arm.
"I already forgot [about the bet] – we were laughing around. Before the final, he told me that he would do it. So, he did it. For me, it’s still crazy, I can’t believe it. But it is what it is. We had a bet.” said Rybakina.
The Kazakh went on to describe her friendship with Vukov, claiming that their opposing personality types worked well together. She continued by saying that he constantly challenged her to improve, and that this approach had been successful for her.
"I’m a very calm person and he is very active. He has so much energy and I think it works well for us because we are completely different. He’s always pushing me to be better and this works. I’ve had great results with him. We’ll see how long and how many more achievements we can make together" explained Elena.