Rennae Stubbs, the former coach of Serena Williams, shed light on some of the issues that had many fans concerned about Stefano Vukov, the former coach of Elena Rybakina.
Rybakina has worked with Vukov for the past couple of years, hiring the former ATP player in February 2019 and later becoming one of the best players under him. It seemed like a relationship that was working well on the courts, but there were plenty of concerns over the years.
Some of those simply stemmed from how the 37-year-old Croatian handled himself during matches. It was particularly notable during the Australian Open earlier this year, with many, including Rennae Stubbs, voicing concern.
Rybakina publicly defended Vukov at the time; however, fast-forward to now, and they're no longer working together. The split came out of nowhere, as there were no reports of any disagreements between them.
Plenty of people expressed their concerns privately; however, nobody really spoke up about details. Then, reports came out about Vukov reportedly being banned as a coach on the WTA Tour, which only added to the weirdness of the situation, but no details have emerged so far.
Quite a few analysts and former players have chimed in since then, as Andy Roddick famously said that coaches don't get banned from the WTA for any random reason.
If Vukov was indeed banned, then something serious likely happened. Rybakina hasn't played since the US Open either, which only adds to the confusion. Stubbs has now chimed in on the situation, talking about it on her podcast.
She was one of Vukov's most vocal critics following the Australian Open, and she revealed some troubling behavior she'd heard about.
"You guys know, if you have listened to our podcast, I had my feelings and my thoughts when it came to her (Elena Rybakina's) coach. I thought he was not a good element. When I’m playing a match, I don’t want to see my coach gesturing, looking all pissed off up there."
"And there’s been some coaches of late that I’m like, 'Why do these players allow these coaches to look like this?' Because you need a positive influence around you when you’re looking up there."
"Now, off the court, in a way he might be the greatest guy in the world to her, I don’t know. But when it comes to being her coach, I saw way too many things of him yelling at her in the gym, other players have said stuff to me."
"When she would win matches, he was giving her s**t. This is what other people saw. There's 25 other people that could see the same thing I was seeing."
All the details that came out in recent weeks indicate that the partnership while working, wasn't the healthiest. It's now over, but plenty of questions remain. Fans hope to see Rybakina back on the courts as soon as possible and playing well.
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