Tennis season can be a very grueling one, especially toward the fag end of the year. Very few players can stretch and come out unscathed after playing a majority part of the season. Ask Elena Rybakina, who has been a victim of the tiring 2024 season. After a bright start to the year that resulted in 3 title wins in 4 months, she lost her way and hasn’t won a title since her Porsche Tennis Grand Prix victory in April. To make matters worse, injury setbacks have been a constant troublesome factor for her due to which she had to withdraw and miss more than 10 tournaments in 2024. Earlier this week, a Russian journalist dropped a major rumor over the reason behind Rybakina’s current absence from the tour. Subsequently, a concerned Chris Evert dropped some encouraging words for Rybakina.

Russian journalist, Sonya Tartakova, alleged that Rybakina is suffering from stress besides her physical struggles. One of the reasons behind it was her separation from her long-time coach, Stefano Vukov, just ahead of the US Open. Evert sympathized with Rybakina and took to X to write, “Wishing Elena the best and hoping she comes back healthy and happy…” Additionally, she included a pray, muscle-flexing, and a heart emoji to denote that she will come back stronger from the recent setbacks.

Earlier, Tartakova made some shocking revelations about Rybakina and her withdrawals from tournaments like Seoul and Beijing. The Kazakh star hasn’t played a match since her US Open withdrawal, and Tartakova cited, “People who did not work with her but were involved in her professional career, say, she is now under a lot of stress, and this is all psychosomatic.”

One of the pressing concerns highlighted by Tartakova was also Rybakina’s separation from her long-time coach, Stefano Vukov. Rybakina took to social media to announce her split with her coach.

What did Elena Rybakina say amid her separation from coach Stefano?

Rybakina and Stefano Vukov enjoyed a healthy working relationship and it was under him that Rybakina achieved some of the best moments of her career. They worked together for five years during which Rybakina won her first major title at the Wimbledon Championships and peaked at No. 3 in the WTA rankings. However, with things not going well for Rybakina amid a poor run of form, she took to her official Instagram handle to announce the shocking split ahead of the US Open.

Rybakina posted a story on Instagram, saying that she and Stefano no longer work together and thanked him for helping her build a successful career. Additionally, she also thanked her close ones and fans for their support.

Despite Rybakina finding tremendous success under Vukov, the latter was often criticized for his coaching style. Pam Shriver once even called for Rybakina to end her partnership with Stefano for his over-enthusiastic coaching style.

However, with the two parting ways, Rybakina would look to start afresh as she aims to make a strong comeback later this year. A potential return to tennis at the WTA Finals cannot be ruled out for her.