Elena Rybakina suffered a blow as coach Stefano Vukov remains suspended from the WTA following the association’s investigation.
When the 2022 Wimbledon announced she was returning the Croatian to her team in early January, the WTA also revealed that there was an ongoing investigation into the 37-year-old over a possible breach of the WTA conduct policy.
During the investigation process, Vukov was not allowed to accompany the world No. 7 during practices, in the locker room, or sit in her box during matches.
While Rybakina was very vocal in her defense of the Croatian coach, it seemingly didn’t have much impact on the WTA ruling.
The WTA confirmed that the 37-year-old’s ban remains in place but didn’t disclose what kind of a sanction he received and how long he would be suspended from coaching on the Tour.
“Following this process, the suspension remains in place,” the WTA told BBC Sport.
“To protect the confidentiality and integrity of the investigation and its findings, the WTA will not provide further details.
“We remain committed to ensuring that all matters are handled in a fair and objective manner in accordance with the WTA Code of Conduct.”
Rybakina insisted that she was ‘never mistreated’
During the Australian Open, the Kazakh tennis star said it was fake news that Vukov verbally abused her.
“The only thing I can say is, like, he never mistreated me,” she said last month.
“I have respect to him for everything he did from the very beginning when I was 200 all the way what we did.”
After returning to action at last week’s Abu Dhabi Open, Rybakina repeated her previous comments and also slammed the WTA over “not handling well” the Vukov case.
“Safeguarding is important but the case with what happened with us I don’t think it was handled well,” the 25-year-old said in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, Goran Ivanisevic left the Kazakh’s team after the Australian Open but since she has added Davide Sanguinetti to her team.
Tennis World USA