By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Photo credit: Corleve/Mark Peterson
A high-profile reunion will spark a simultaneous split, ESPN analyst Rennae Stubbs predicts.
Last week, Elena Rybakina announced her plan to reunite with former coach Stefano Vukov as assistant coach to her new coach, Goran Ivanisevic.
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In a Zoom call with the media today to promote ESPN’s Australian Open coverage starting on Sunday, Stubbs told Tennis Now if Vukov, who is serving a WTA suspension that will deny him a credential for the Australian Open, does indeed return, then Coach Goran likely walks.
“I think Goran, also being on the women’s side [is interesting], and he’s now having to deal now with this Rybakina situation,” Stubbs told Tennis Now. “With the old coach [coming back]. So I don’t know how long Goran’s gonna stick around if that situation is going to occur.
“You know I’m hearing rumblings and I doubt [Goran] is going to stick around if that’s the case. So we’ll see what happens there.”
Exclusive ESPN Australian Open coverage kicks off in the U.S. on Saturday, January 11th, with the First Round streaming live at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ and presented at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2, two hours earlier than in 2024.
Daily encore presentations will be available on ESPN2, with Quarterfinal encore presentations expanded to four hours per day.
After Rybakina’s announcement of Vukov’s return, The Athletic broke the news that Vukov is serving a provisional suspension that prevents him from receiving a coaching credential for this month’s Australian Open.
Some coaches and commentators, including Pam Shriver and Stubbs, have criticized Vukov for his treatment of Rybakina.
World No. 6 Rybakina said Vukov has not mistreated her—and reiterated she’s not happy seeing critical comments from other coaches.
“Of course I’m not really happy with the situation. I’m not happy with the comments which I see, especially from the people who are on the tour,” Rybakina told the media at United Cup in Sydney. “It’s active coaches, commentators. I don’t think that it’s fair.
“Yeah, but the only thing I can say is, like, he never mistreated me. I have respect to him for everything he did from the very beginning when I was 200 all the way what we did, like, I don’t know. You can name me other coaches who had the same success with players who have been 200 and then winning Grand Slam and being in the top.”
