Something strange has definitely been going on with Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, lately. At Wimbledon 2024, the former Russian and now Kazakhstani tennis player reached the semi-finals – a pretty decent result, although the goal was still victory. But after this, Rybakina, it seems, is no longer herself. At the “Thousand” in Cincinnati, Elena lost in the first match, and at the US Open she reached the second round, but retired before the match.
And it is unlikely that this is an injury. Otherwise, Rybakina would simply not have been able to play the first round in New York. So what was the reason for refusing to go to the match? We still do not know the answer to this question. Now Elena has withdrawn from the “five hundred” in Seoul. It is also not reported why the tennis player did this.
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“I came out of the abyss to the big leagues.” Rybakina broke up with the coach who made her a champion
In general, Elena Rybakina regularly withdraws from tournaments this season. We are not talking about withdrawals directly during matches or competitions, but about such early refusals. Even people who know the tennis player do not understand what is going on. Like, for example, six-time TBS champion in pairs and mixed doubles Rennae Stubbs. “Obviously something is going on. I don’t want to speculate, but this is a very unusual situation. Eight withdrawals this year, an injury that is now unknown at the US Open. It just seems to me that something is going on here, this is not a normal situation.
“I saw her the last few days and she didn’t look good. I’ve seen her on tour for years and I know what she looks like when she’s happy, healthy and playing well. When she plays well, she’s one of the best, if not the best, players in the world on this surface. So, it seems to me that there’s something more going on with her than we imagined. It’s horrible. It’s sad. She’s such a sweet person and it’s a pleasure to be around her. We wish her the best and hope that she finds what she needs,” Stubbs said in August per The Tennis Letter.
Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon 2024
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
The story of her departure from the coach, of course, immediately comes to mind. Before the US Open, Rybakina announced the end of her collaboration with Stefano Vukov, the specialist under whose leadership she won all her titles. But that’s not so bad. Much more alarming is that Vukov was removed from the official list of WTA coaches a few days after this. The organization did not comment on this, so the information space began to fill with various kinds of rumors.
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Rybakina has found herself in a new scandal. It seems that her long-time coach has been suspended from tennis.
Former Russian tennis player and now coach Dmitry Tursunov, who worked with such top tennis players as Arina Sabalenko, Emma Raducanu, Belinda Bencic, expressed the opinion that in a situation with a breakup in the Vukov-Rybakin tandem, both one side and the other can be right. “Vukov can also be a scapegoat. He can be both a bad person and a good one. In my opinion, he did a good job. He trained many people, traveled with Angelina Kalinina. I know him well, he is a decent guy, one of the most competent coaches on the circuit,” Tursunov said in early September on BetBoom Tennis.
Dmitry also suggested why Rybakina does not please her fans with her performances on the court. According to him, Elena is a bit like Ashleigh Barty, who won three Grand Slam tournaments and ended her career at the age of 25. “Rybakina is very similar to Barty. She is a very calm, balanced, pretty, nice girl who, perhaps, does not want to be pampered too much right now. I think we will know everything soon,” Tursunov said.
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After Seoul, the tennis players have a very important segment on their agenda with two “thousands” in a row. First, the girls will play in Beijing and then move to Wuhan. Rybakina is still third in the championship race and in terms of reaching the final, there is hardly anything that threatens her. However, the pursuers, especially Jasmine Paolini, concede quite a bit. Therefore, Elena risks a serious decline in the race (and therefore in the rankings at the end of the year) if she does not have time to get in shape for Beijing.
WTA Championship Race leader position (top 8):
Iga Szwiatek (Poland) – 8285 points; Arina Sabalenka (Belarus) – 7876; Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) – 4981; Jasmine Paolini (Italy) – 4865; Jessica Pegula (USA) – 4466; Corey Gauff (USA) – 3968; Emma Navarro (USA) – 3568; Daniel Collins (USA) – 3178.
Note: Swiatek and Sabalenka have already qualified for the Final Tournament.
