By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Photograph credit score: Corleve/Mark Peterson
A high-profile reunion will spark a simultaneous break up, ESPN analyst Rennae Stubbs predicts.
Final week, Elena Rybakina introduced her plan to reunite with former coach Stefano Vukov as assistant coach to her new coach, Goran Ivanisevic.
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In a Zoom name with the media at this time to advertise ESPN’s Australian Open protection beginning on Sunday, Stubbs informed Tennis Now if Vukov, who’s serving a WTA suspension that can deny him a credential for the Australian Open, does certainly return, then Coach Goran possible walks.
“I feel Goran, additionally being on the ladies’s aspect [is interesting], and he’s now having to deal now with this Rybakina state of affairs,” Stubbs informed Tennis Now. “With the outdated coach [coming back]. So I don’t know the way lengthy Goran’s gonna stick round if that state of affairs goes to happen.
“You already know I’m listening to rumblings and I doubt [Goran] goes to stay round if that’s the case. So we’ll see what occurs there.”
Unique ESPN Australian Open protection kicks off within the U.S. on Saturday, January eleventh, with the First Spherical streaming dwell at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ and offered at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2, two hours sooner than in 2024. Each day encore displays will probably be out there on ESPN2, with Quarterfinal encore displays expanded to 4 hours per day.
After Rybakina’s announcement of Vukov’s return, The Athletic broke the information that Vukov is serving a provisional suspension that forestalls him from receiving a training credential for this month’s Australian Open.
Some coaches and commentators, together with Pam Shriver and Stubbs, have criticized Vukov for his remedy of Rybakina.
World No. 6 Rybakina mentioned Vukov has not mistreated her—and reiterated she’s not completely happy seeing vital feedback from different coaches.
“In fact I am probably not proud of the state of affairs. I am not proud of the feedback which I see, particularly from the people who find themselves on the tour,” Rybakina informed the media at United Cup in Sydney. “It is lively coaches, commentators. I do not assume that it is honest.
“Yeah, however the one factor I can say is, like, he by no means mistreated me. I’ve respect to him for the whole lot he did from the very starting after I was 200 all the way in which what we did, like, I do not know. You may title me different coaches who had the identical success with gamers who’ve been 200 after which successful Grand Slam and being within the high.”
