A relationship between a coach and a player is very sacrosanct, however, at times a lot of things lead to misunderstanding and differences, eventually ending in ending the partnership. The ongoing controversy between tennis superstar Elena Rybakina and former coach Stefano Vukov is quite intriguing and has been unraveling a few distasteful incidences between the two professionals.  Russian Teenager Mirra Andreeva Beats Elena Rybakina To Become Youngest WTA 1000 Finalist in Dubai Tennis Championships 2025.

After a five-year working relationship from 2019, Rybakina and Vukov parted ways in August 2024, which the former world number one doubles player mended adding the former coach back into her team in January 2025.

But, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) opened an investigation into Vukov, first provisionally suspended and then announced a year ban on the former coach, which meant he could not coach Rybakina, or get credentials for any WTA tournaments.

Now in a shocking turn of events, Rybakina's mom has opened a can of worms about her daughter's working relationship with Vukov, where she claimed that the coach made the 25-year-old player cry, which the mother pleaded to the Croatian to stop via an e-mail. This saw Vukov not take the field with Rybakina at Wimbledon allegedly.

As per WTA's investigations, findings suggest that Vukov broke several codes of conduct violations, which include “engaging in abuse of authority and abusive conduct” “physical and verbal abuse”, and “exploiting [his] relationship". Emma Raducanu Opens Up On Disturbing 'Stalker' Incident During WTA Dubai Tennis Championships 2025, Raises Concerns After Man Gets Banned By Authority.

Now, former doubles number 1 player Rennae Stubbs has revealed that Vukov did threaten to sue her for voicing her concerns about negative coaching, which now is coming out in the open.

Interestingly, despite all this Rybakina has stated that Vukov ' has never mistreated' Kazakhistan player, while the Croatian, too, has denied all allegations made against him.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 23, 2025 10:09 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).