Tennis journalist Sonya Tartakova has revealed some shocking new information about Elena Rybakina, including the reasons for her constant injury troubles and recent break-up with ex-coach Stefano Vukov. According to Tartakova, the two are related, as Rybakina’s injury issues are more psychosomatic than just physiological in nature.
Rybakina was last in action at the US Open, where she reached the second round. However, before her match, the former Wimbledon champion withdrew, giving her opponent a walkover.Just days before, she had parted ways with Vukov, with reports even emerging that he had been banned by the WTA Tour afterwards. She was next set to play at the China Open this week, but has already withdrawn from the WTA 1000 event.
Speaking in an interview on the Youtube channel ‘Tennis Bolshei,’ Tartakova revealed that the official reason being given for Rybakina’s withdrawal, namely a back injury, is not the whole truth behind what’s wrong with the Kazakh. Instead, the journalist disclosed that the World No. 4 is now in a complete state of disarray, to the point that she cannot play.
“Many people do not understand the reason for such health problems. They said that she is having difficulties, back problems. This is the official reason. Then, that during this year she had problems with her stomach. But as people who did not work with her, but were involved in her professional career, say, she is now under a lot of stress and it is all psychosomatic. She is now in a completely disorganized state, she cannot play,” she said.
Tartakova believes that the reason for said pressure is Rybakina’s relationship with Vukov, where she endured a lot of difficulties because of his poor attitude towards her.
“And all these difficulties that she faces, she faces because of a lot of very heavy pressure associated with her former coach Vukov. They say that Stefano actually came to the US Open, that he was in New York, was ready to continue working with her, but Lena decided that they would break up because of a very difficult… I don’t want to say big words, not quite the correct attitude of her mentor towards her. That is, he “ate” her all the time, as people who surrounded Lena say,” she said.
Sonya Tartakova further added that it took Elena Rybakina’s parents to finally break the ‘vicious circle’ that had developed between her and a coach she had known for a long time. Tartakova also revealed that despite all the achievements Vukov led Rybakina to, the Kazakh had to face a lot of constant verbal abuse from him.
“Elena Rybakina’s parents stood up for her, because she could not break this vicious circle. On the one hand, this is the coach who worked with her since she was 17, and she herself, together with her family, chose him,” she said.
“On the other hand, it is clear that they were very close, she won the main achievements of her career thanks to their joint work, and her parents insisted that Lena change something in her tennis life, because there was pressure, and insults, and bad words said to her. They were constantly from Vukov’s lips,” she added.
The translation for Sonya Tartakova’s comments has been obtained thanks to Twitter user ‘@dratsab13_x,’ who uploaded the transcript of her interview.
Sonya Tartakova revealed she is trying to find out if Stefano Vukov has really been banned from the WTA Tour after split with Elena Rybakina
During the interview, Sonya Tartakova also spoke about the reports of Stefano Vukov’s ban from the WTA Tour following the end of his relationship with Elena Rybakina.
While Tartakova has not received official confirmation from anyone in the organization, she is of the opinion that no such ban is in place at the moment, based on how she has seen Vukov react to his split with Rybakina.
“And now Elena Rybakina is suffering and trying to get rid of psychological problems, so the situation is, of course, very difficult for her, but we’ll see. I tried to find out if there is official information that he is banned from the WTA tour, because we discussed this several months ago, that a report was allegedly written on him and he was suspended from work,” she said.
“No one has officially confirmed this yet. We will find out very soon, if he finds another protégé, then this ban does not exist. But according to Vukov, as he positions himself, he does not have any ban. But it was a big surprise that Lena stopped working with him,” she added.
Since the split with Vukov, Rybakina is yet to name the new coach she will bring into her team next.
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