Elena Rybakina has a new coach, starting a new chapter of her tennis career after a previous split from Stefano Vukov.
The Kazakhstani player is one of the most talented players on the WTA Tour, and she demonstrated that multiple times. She is a Grand Slam champion, having won the Wimbledon Championships in 2022.
She also reached the World No. 3 position in the rankings, but many pundits would still say that she hasn't reached her potential. Rybakina is a player who, thanks to her attacking play style, can certainly win more than one major, like Aryna Sabalenka did.
Hard courts are where she thrives, and it's the same court that also Novak Djokovic thrives. The 24-time Grand Slam champion recently split with coach Goran Ivanisevic, who he worked with for over five years.
Initially, it seemed like Ivanisevic would stay away from the sport for some time, but Rybakina recently revealed that they will be working together in 2025.
It's a new adventure for Ivanisevic, who first spoke about his collaboration with Rybakina in a recent interview with Serbian publication SportKlub.
The 53-year-old coach admitted that he had plenty of offers on the table, but he chose Rybakina for multiple reasons, including her style and potential, but also her personality.
"There were some other offers, but I think I chose the right one for me – because of Elena’s playing style and potential, but also because of her personality. Elena is calm and I can’t wait to get going. I think it’s going to be great."
Rybakina, like Ivanisevic, is a former Wimbledon champion, so it's certainly a similarity that the Croatian coach likely saw when making the decision to start working with her.
On top of that, Ivanisevic's friend also currently works as Rybakina's fitness coach, so he knew what he was going into, hearing about the player not just from her fitness coach but also around the Tour.
"I don’t know her too well personally, but my friend Zule is her fitness coach – we worked together with Tomas Berdych – and the word around the Tour generally is that she is a great person."
Ivanisevic sees that Rybakina has a great potential. He can win another Grand Slam with her, and having worked with arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, he is now excited for a change, working with a WTA player.
"Game-wise, she has got a big serve, tall, strong hitter who plays aggressively, she won Wimbledon just like me. I feel I can teach her something. I mean, she is already No. 5 in the world, but I think she can win more Slams, that’s for sure."
"Firstly, we need to get to know each other better. I won’t go too much into detail, but she’s got room for improvement in every aspect of the game. She can achieve better results. It’s going to be interesting."
"I know that many people found it odd and that people were surprised by our collaboration, but not me – I needed a U-turn after Novak. I won everything with Novak, so I am extremely looking forward to this new challenge."
"Honestly, during my time on the ATP Tour, I never pictured myself on the women’s tour, but I don’t see myself in men’s tennis at the moment."
0 Comments