Elena Rybakina is living a 2024 full of ups and downs, to which is added a huge number of withdrawals before or during tournaments. The Kazakh player has the talent and weapons to enter the fight between Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka for the first place in the WTA ranking, but she was too uneven this season to be able to aspire to the first position in the standings.
After reaching the semi-finals at the Wimbledon Championships during the summer, Elena had retired from the Paris Olympics on the grounds that she had bronchitis. She later retired during the US Open due to a back injury, despite having shown great tennis in her debut match.
The current number 4 in the world has made his fans very worried, both for his physical condition and his mental health. Rybakina split from her long-time coach Stefano Vukov just before the US Open began and there were some worrying rumours about her. The next target of the Kazakh champion should be the WTA Finals, which will take place this year in Saudi Arabia from 2 to 9 November. Given the current situation it is very difficult to make predictions, but the hope is that Elena will recover and return to express her best tennis.
A real mystery
The complex situation surrounding Rybakina’s condition has generated much discussion in recent weeks and fans are waiting to know the truth.
Three WTA titles (none as thick as a Grand Slam or WTA 1000), an ever-changing condition and a series of withdrawals before or during the tournament. In addition, the last big news, the end of the collaboration with the historic coach Stefano Vukov, who has trained her since she was 17 years old. It’s a very special year for Elena Rybakina, but what is really happening to her? The Kazakhs have given up competing in several competitions due to stomach problems but also back problems, one of the most recent cases in view of the Beijing commitment.
The possible psychophysical form of the player was shed light by Sonya Tartakova, a well-known and experienced Russian journalist specialized in tennis. According to her, the 25-year-old born in Moscow has been subjected to a strong psychological stress by her coach and the mental health problems resulting from this relationship are the real reason for her current absence from the circuit: “She’s very stressed, it’s something psychosomatic.
She is in a chaotic moment, in a completely disorganized state, can not play. Stefano was ready to continue working with Elena, she decided they would break up because of an inappropriate attitude towards her. He ‘ate’ Elena all the time, as people around Elena said. Her parents defended her, because she could not get out of that vicious circle” she revealed, adding: “The family members insisted that Elena needed a change in her tennis life: there were pressures, insults, Wickedness, words that constantly came out of Vukov’s lips”.
Tartakova has communicated how there could have been a sanction for the coach by WTA, but the news is a simple rumor and does not find at the moment official evidence: “I searched for information, because we talked about it months ago that supposedly had come out a release that had suspended him inside the tour. No one has confirmed it. We will soon find out if he will find a new student, if this sanction exists: Vukov says no”.
Rybakina is a true champion
The hope is that an official communication will be made as soon as possible to understand the situation. The Kazakh player is one of the WTA tour’s leading faces and fans are looking forward to seeing her on the court and in good health. Former Serena Williams’ coach and top analyst Rennae Stubbs opened up on Rybakina’s current status: “She’s saying her injuries but listen, you’d have to be a dummy not to know there’s a lot more going on there. We are all rooting for her. This is a player that, arguably, at her best is the best player in the world.”
“There’s obviously something going on with the coach. He has disappeared as well from the tour and there’s word that he’s been banned from the tour. So, there’s just something going on there that we clearly don’t have firsthand knowledge of but it’s pretty bloody obvious that it’s not good,” she added.
The WTA tour is entering the last part of the season, with Swiatek and Sabalenka vying for the title of best player in the world. The Polish tennis player has fallen in recent weeks, while the Belarusian champion has just won the WTA of Cincinnati and especially the US Open.
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