Elena Rybakina Hires Italian Coach Sanguinetti As WTA Investigation Continues - UBITENNIS

Elena Rybakina Hires Italian Coach Sanguinetti As WTA Investigation Continues

By Adam Addicott
4 Min Read

Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina has brought in a new replacement for Goran Ivanisevic, who departed her team last month following a brief collaboration.

The world No.5 has joined forces with Davide Sanguinetti and has spent the past week working with him. The Italian is a former top 50 player who has worked with the likes of Dinara Safina and Brandon Nakashima. He will be with Rybakina at the upcoming Abu Dhabi Open where she is the top seed.

Rybakina started her season under the guidance of Ivanisevic but the partnership was complex due to the decision to also bring Stefano Vukov back into the team. Vukov is under investigation for breaking the Tour’s code of conduct and is suspended from WTA events. He served as Rybakina’s main coach until last year’s US Open. Three months later it was confirmed that he had been suspended but the details of the investigation are confidential. Rybakina has insisted that her mentor, who has previously been criticized for his behavior, hasn’t done anything wrong.

“We just sat down, we talked, and we decided to go our separate ways. But I think I learned a lot and it’s not easy to find a good collaboration,” Rybakina told the AFP news agency about stopping her work with Ivanisevic.

“It of course takes time and everything but that was our decision. We’ll see how this year goes for me. I’m also not such an easy player maybe like some people think, ‘Oh it’s easy with her’, or something, but it’s not really like this.

“I think every person is different and there is no one who is perfect. I can be sometimes stubborn on the court, stubborn on some things, that’s at least my honest opinion.”

As for her new setup, the 25-year-old confirmed she is receiving help from both Sanguinetti and Vukov. However, she can only receive remote support from Vukov due to his suspension.

“He’s an important person in my career. We started when I was like 200 (in the world). So it’s a lot of things, on the court, outside of the court, he’s helping out with,” she said of Vukov.

“I feel like of course it’s not ideal that he cannot be on the practice courts but at the same time we are finding a way also with help of Davide, his opinion.

“I hope it’s going to work out. We have a good team in the end of the day.”

As for the WTA investigation, Rybakina described the situation as something ‘she is not happy with’ before going to say that the case ‘wasn’t handled well.’

“In the end of the day, I think you need to listen to the player, that’s the most important. Because as I said before there are a lot of comments from people which are also in our environment but they’re making comments not knowing me, not knowing him, and it’s just making a bad look for everyone.” She concluded.

Rybakina reached the fourth round of the Australian Open last month before losing to Madison Keys who went on to win the title.

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