Elena Rybakina will speak with Goran Ivanisevic in the coming days about her plans for the future after crashing out of the Australian Open on Monday.
The Kazkh sixth seed suffered a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, loss to Madison Keys in a roller-coaster fourth round match that featured eight breaks of serve. Rybakina was down 1-3 in the final set before fighting back to draw level. However, an in-form Keys went on to win three games in a row to claim victory.
“It’s not the result I wanted. It was a tough match. I had some opportunities, but it is what it is,” the former Wimbledon champion said afterward.
Melbourne Park was the first Grand Slam event Rybakina played under the guidance of Ivanisevic who she hired during the off-season. Ivanisevic is a former world No.2 who has coached both Marin Cilic and Novak Djokovic to Grand Slam titles. It is the first time he is working with a high-profile female player on the Tour.
As to what the future holds for the pair, it remains to be seen with both of them yet to fully commit to a long-term partnership.
“We still need to talk because we just tried the preseason and these couple of tournaments it was something just getting used to each other,” Rybakina explained.
“We will definitely talk about how the next schedule is going to look like.”
Ivanisevic’s future will largely depend on the outcome of a WTA investigation into Stefano Vukov. Vukov was Rybakina’s long-time coach until shortly before last year’s US Open when they abruptly stopped working together.
Then at the start of this season, Rybakina unexpectedly confirmed that her former mentor has rejoined her team. Even though he is serving a provisional suspension for allegedly breaching the WTA’s Code of Conduct. Details of the investigation are confidential but Vukov has previously faced criticism about his behaviour towards Rybakina who says he has done nothing wrong.
Due to his suspension, Vukov was denied credentials for this year’s Australian Open. Nevertheless, he has continued speaking with Rybakina throughout the tournament.
“This is not the station I want to be or someone wants to be,” she said.
“Of course, I want to have who I want in the box, but I couldn’t change it.
“At the end of the day, I just tried to focus on my matches, and I spoke with him. I also have Goran, so it didn’t affect the way I played today or any of the results, I think.”
It is not known when the investigation into Vukov’s conduct will conclude.
Rybakina is scheduled to next play at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open which will take place during the first week of February.
