Elena Rybakina parted ways with her long-time coach, Stefano Vukov, just before the 2024 US Open. She even shared a post saying, “Hello Everyone, after 5 years, Stefano and I are no longer working together. I thank him for his work on-court and wish him all the best for the future. Thank you all for your support.” After that, we saw Rybakina bringing in Novak Djokovic’s former coach Ivan Goranisevic to her team. Just as when everyone was keen to follow this heavyweight partnership in the women’s tour, Rybakina yet again stunned her fans by announcing Stefano Vukov will rejoin her team for the 2025 season. What does the tennis world have to say about this announcement?

Stefano Vukov has been an integral part of her team over the last few years. He helped Elena Rybakina reach the number 3 spot in June 2023. Not only that, he also helped her clinch her first Grand Slam title at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships. Despite these heroics over the years, controversies marred their partnership. So, their split about four months ago drew various reactions from the tennis world. Amid all these recently, Elena Rybakina was asked to share her feelings about the change of coach.

While speaking about her new partnership with Ivanisevic, she said, “I mean, still I cannot say much about our work. We definitely did some good preparation. Hopefully, you will see on the court.” Elena Rybakina’s suspense over her true feelings about coach Goran Ivanisevic’s inclusion raised quite a few eyebrows.

Then after that, we even saw Stefano Vukov in the stands during the World Tennis League. Everyone at that time wondered if he was planning to make a return to the Tour with a new coaching assignment. Just a few days ago, Russian journalist, Sofiya Tartakova revealed that Vukov is set to travel to Melbourne on January 4 to support Elena Rybakina at the 2025 AO.

This sparked a fair bit of speculation and curiosity among the fans. Then recently, Elena Rybkina addressed all those speculations by announcing, “Hello everyone, I am excited to announce that Stefano will be joining the team for the 2025 season. Thank you all for the support And wishing you a great 2025,” in one of her IG stories. How did the tennis world react to this announcement?

Well, everyone is now wondering about what will be Goran Ivansevic’s future next. Will Novak Djokovic’s former coach stay in her team or are we going to see an early end to this partnership? Let’s have a look at some of the reactions surrounding Vukov’s arrival in Rybakina’s team.

Tennis world stunned by Elena Rybakina’s decision to re-hire her former coach

Stefano Vukov’s “frantic and intense” style of on-court coaching of the typically stoic Elena Rybakina has often raised a few eyebrows in the tennis world. For example in 2023, WTA legend Pam Shriver made a comment about Rybakina’s partnership with Vukov by saying, “I hope she finds a coach who speaks and treats her with respect at ALL times and does not ever accept anything less.“

At that time, we saw Rybakina stepping up in defense of Vukov by saying, “[Vukov] is a passionate coach, with a lot of knowledge about tennis. Unlike people who are making these comments, he has great knowledge about me as a person and as an athlete. Those who know me well will know that I would never accept a coach that didn’t respect me and all our hard work.” Then recently, after seeing Vukov’s comeback to Rybakina’s team, Shriver was yet again spotted dropping a comment through a tweet by saying, “It’s time for our entire sport to finally stand up to known abuse and cult-like manipulations of players. This is a very sad situation and my prayers are with ER.”

Not only Shriver, but even Serena Williams’ former coach Rennae Stubbs has criticized Vukov’s coaching style in the past. “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.” She further added, “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 sh-t.”

After hearing about Rybakina’s recent announcement on rehiring Vukov, a fan tweeted, “damn….I have no words.” Clearly, there are a lot in the tennis world who aren’t too pleased with this inclusion.

Is Goran Ivanisevic happy with this, though? We don’t know! Previously we saw Rybakina showcasing her excitement to start her new partnership with the Croatian by saying, “Really looking forward to this partnership. I think he’s a great champion and he has so much experience. I’m really looking forward to start. Yeah, for me [it] was important to get better. I definitely wanted to work with him. I’m sure since he said ‘Yes’ he also, so…It’s just very interesting for me. I want to learn. I’m just looking forward. As we just said, it’s something new for me. Also, I’ve been with one coach for a long time. I want to learn.“

She further added, “Yeah, really happy and we will see what we can do together.” However, with the comeback of Stefano Vukov in her team some of the fans think, “Goran will fly away.“

Elena Rybakina’s partnership with Goran Ivanisevic was recently dubbed to do wonders in 2025 by ex-pros like Alex Corretja, Laura Robson, and Tim Henman. Even Novak Djokovic shared his thoughts about the partnership saying, “Well, I was actually happy, because we talked about – you know, we actually like Rybakina, the way she plays and how she is as a person. When Goran used to work with me, we always liked to watch her play.” He hoped Ivanisevic would contribute a lot to her success. However, some of the fans tweeted, “Whattt? Why all these drama last year then? Seriously I have no words…I hope Goran shouldn’t fly away….such a bad news to start a new year 🥲.”

Soon after the split between Elena Rybakina and Stefano Vukov, Sofya Tartakova dropped a bombshell claiming that Rybakina faced distressing situations while working under Vukov and that her absence and poor health were a result of this stressful atmosphere. So, even after all these, some fans failed to wonder how she yet again brought Vukov to her team. “For tha whole season????? Not only AO??? The whole seasonnnn😳😳” questioned a few. What are your thoughts on this inclusion, though?