World number six Elena Rybakina breaks silence about her ex-coach Stefano Vukov, after he was temporarily suspended by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
As per BBC Sports, the Kazakhstan player denied any mistreatment by her former coach, stating that Vukov "never mistreated me.”
This suspension is a part of an ongoing investigation into his behaviour towards the player.
However, it is unclear whether Elena personally filed the complaint against her former coach, or if someone else raised the concern.
Speaking after Kazakhstan’s loss to Poland in the semi-finals of the United Cup in Sydney on Saturday, January 4, the player said, "I can only say, and I said it already before, that he never mistreated me, it was never anything like that.”
She added, "Of course I'm not really happy with the situation. I'm not happy with the comments which I see, especially from the people who are on the tour. It's active coaches, commentators. I don't think that it's fair."
The 25-year-old further shared, "Stefano is re-joining the team because I know the person for six years and there's a lot of things we can do outside of the court too."
However, WTA denied that claim and confirmed to BBC Sports that Vukov is currently banned due to an alleged breach of the WTA’s Code of Conduct.
Due to the provisional suspension, Vukov is not allowed to receive accreditation for WTA events which prevents him from entering player-only areas.
