By Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Goran Ivanisevic said he has ended his short stint as coach of former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina after the Kazakh went out in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Rybakina hired Ivanisevic, who ended a five-year spell as Novak Djokovic’s coach last year, for the 2025 season last November after she split with long-time mentor Stefano Vukov just days before the U.S. Open.
“After our trial period that finished with the Australian Open, I wish Elena and her team best of luck moving forward,” 2001 Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic said on Instagram on Tuesday.
Rybakina had added Vukov back into her team earlier this month before the governing WTA said he was provisionally suspended for a potential code of conduct breach and cannot obtain a credential to its tournaments while being investigated.
Vukov, who guided Rybakina to the title at the All England Club in 2022, denies any wrongdoing and told The Athletic he had “never abused anyone” after the outlet had first reported the provisional suspension.
Rybakina has also said Vukov had not mistreated her.
Following her 6-3 1-6 6-3 defeat by Madison Keys on Monday Rybakina said she was unsure about the future of her partnership with Ivanisevic.
“Well, we still need to talk of course,” Rybakina said.
“We just tried the pre-season and a couple of tournaments. It was something we were just getting used to each other.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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