Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina is having a dream run in the ongoing Qatar Open having made it to the last-eight stage of the WTA 1000 event in Doha, Qatar on Wednesday evening.
Off the court, the 25-year-old Kazak star had to ward off a barrage of questions thrown at her by journalists covering the Qatar event.
The questions revolve around the role played by her former coach-turned-reappointed coach Stefano Vukov, who has been suspended by the WTA, in the coaching setup. Vukov was provisionally suspended by WTA in January for his alleged behaviour towards the player following a pending inquiry.
On Tuesday, the WTA made it clear that it had received a report following an internal inquiry and upheld the suspension, making it clear that it would continue. The WTA has not given details of the "behaviour" that led to the decision to suspend Vukov:
The No. 5 seed Rybakina, for a second day running, had to deal with questions centered around Vukov and WTA’s decision.
Well, I'm just disappointed with the situation, and how the process went. I'm not going to comment much on that anymore
Well, I'm just disappointed with the situation, and how the process went. I'm not going to comment much on that anymore.
I'm not going to answer anymore. I'm not going to comment. In what way I can react in this situation?
Well, I'm focusing on my matches, and when I go on the court I'm thinking only about the way I need to play, so I'm concentrating on myself, and also, of course, on the opponent. Definitely, it's not the best time, but as I said, I'm always focusing on my matches and want to perform as best as I can.
Well, I would expect this to be finished as soon as possible, but this is not something in my hands, and I'm not making any decisions, unfortunately.
The WTA has said that Vulov is currently banned after allegedly breaching the WTA's Code of Conduct due to which the Croatian is not eligible to get accreditation for WTA events, besides the player-only areas like the practice courts, other training facilities, and restaurants.
With Vulov unable to make the trip to Qatar, Italian Davide Sanguinetti is helping Rybakina with coaching inputs. Vulov had in the past worked for a brief period with Goran Ivanisevic, Novak Djokovic’s ex-coach, during the Australian Open.
I think he's a very nice person, and for now I'm really happy with the way we work the week before Abu Dhabi and the time we spend in Abu Dhabi. He's very positive and he gives good advice. Of course, I have a lot of things to work on to still improve, so we're trying to do a bit of everything.
Well, it's not a good situation to be in, and as I said before, I cannot do much in this situation, no one really listens to me, and my opinion didn't take in any consideration. So, I'm not happy with the situation, but the only thing I can do now is wait.
It was a spur-of-a-moment decision when I was feeling bad physically, and I had some health issues, so I had to stop and I was not playing for two months. But again, there were a lot of things going on, and I think a lot of players stop with the coach, and then they want to continue, and this is an agreement between the player and the coach.
Rybakina is so far having a smooth ride in h´the tournament. She registered a 7-6 (1), 6-2 win over Rebecca Sramkova, to set up a quarterfinal match with three-time Qatar winner and No.2 seed Iga Swiatek. Earlier, Rybakina won against Peyton Stearns 6-2, 6-4, while in the first round, she defeated American Peyton Stearns 6-2, 6-4.
