Elena Rybakina will work with Goran Ivanisevic, the former coach of Novak Djokovic and former world number 2, from the 2025 season. The world number 5 has been without a coach since the summer after she unexpectedly ended her relationship with Stefano Vukov, her coach of five years.
Achievements and separation from Vukov
Under Vukov’s guidance, the Kazakh player won Wimbledon in 2022, reached the final of the 2023 Australian Open and rose to a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world last season. Despite these successes, the partnership with Vukov regularly attracted criticism, and there was speculation about the reasons for their surprise breakup in recent months.
However, in an interview in Riyadh, Rybakina stated that the separation was amicable. “I know there are a lot of rumors going around. But honestly, we just broke up with Stefano,” she said. “I think we’ve had incredible results in five years. We have achieved a lot. I started with him when I was number 200. Now it’s just the next chapter of my career. I want to take the next step.”
New coach and current challenges
It is believed that the 25-year-old will initially work with Kazakh national coach Lovro Zovko in Riyadh. However, it has now been confirmed that Ivanisevic will strengthen her team before 2025. Ivanisevic, himself a Wimbledon winner in 2001, started a successful coaching career after his retirement. Among other things, he coached Marin Cilic to the 2014 US Open title and worked with Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic. He is particularly known for his work with Djokovic, with whom he won nine of his 24 Grand Slam titles.
Before starting work with Ivanisevic, Rybakina will compete in the year-end championships in Riyadh and possibly represent Kazakhstan at the Billie Jean King Cup. Despite recurring injury and illness problems in 2024, Rybakina has won titles in Brisbane, Abu Dhabi and Stuttgart in the first half of the year and reached the quarterfinals of the French Open and the semifinals of Wimbledon.
