Elena Rybakina‘s journey back to the court has been nothing short of dramatic. After a long hiatus, the Kazakh star made a solid return at the WTA Finals, but it wasn’t just her performance that grabbed headlines. Instead, it was the chaos surrounding her coaching camp that had fans buzzing. As fans dissect her situation, a surprising voice has now joined the conversation—none other than Andy Roddick.

The Kazakh tennis sensation abruptly parted ways with her coach Stefano Vukov ahead of the US Open in 2024 and joined forces with Novak Djokovic’s ex-coach Goran Ivanisevic. However, in a surprising move, she again joined forces with Vukov raising eyebrows and surprising many in the tennis community. But, this was not the end of the drama that peaked after Vukov was confirmed to be suspended by the WTA for allegedly breaching the code of conduct. Now, Roddick has shared his take on the matter highlighting WTA has the authority to make such decisions. 

The 2003 US Open champion engaged in an interaction with Jon Wertheim on his Served with Roddick Podcast. The duo deliberated on a wide range of factors including the coaching controversy of Rybakina. He shared that while it is uncertain about what exactly happened between Rybakina and Vukov, the WTA has the power to take action against anyone who fails to cooperate with them in their investigation. 

Speaking in the interview, he said, “We just don’t know is the answer here. So we’ve seen aggressive voicing of whether it’s opinions, coaching things, aggressive tone, that itself, you can’t get suspended. If you’re a coach and say ‘hey move your fu**ing feet’ you can’t get suspended for that right. But what we don’t know is if it ever crossed the line.” Continuing further, he added that he has seen players having physical alterations and then getting back to normal, but that didn’t save them from suspension. However, Roddick clarified that his opinion is not directly linked to Rybakina and Vukov but is just hypothetical about the situation that can be seen on the WTA circuit.

“I’m just trying to think of situations where the WTA actually has the authority to put their thumb on the scale as far as you know we’re going to investigate you, are you going to cooperate? ‘No I’m not.’ Okay then maybe that’s the grounds for it like you won’t even have a conversation with us that’s a problem. And this is purely speculative. I don’t know those types of things jump out at me as things where WTA could rightfully put their thumb on the scale even though Rybakina says no,” Roddick added. The controversy surrounding Rybakina and Vukov has been long making rounds in the tennis circuit.

During Rybakina’s semifinal match against Victoria Azarenka at the 2023 Australian Open, the Croatian coach found himself in controversy after he yelled at the WTA star from the box. And this was not an isolated incident. Soon after their split, a major bombshell was dropped by Russian journalist, Sofya Tartakova during an interview, who claimed that Rybakina faced distressing situations while working under Vukov. She further shared that Rybakina’s absence and poor health were a result of this stressful atmosphere, which led to a huge furor. However, Rybakina has debunked these claims time and again and even defended him after the situation.

“Never mistreated me” – Elena Rybakina rallies behind Stefano Vukov

Elena Rybkina and Stefano Vukov started working together in 2019 and the Kazakh star achieved huge success under his tutelage. It was under Vukov’s guidance that Rybakina managed to win her maiden Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2022 and reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in June 2023. And it is for these reasons, that Rybakina has continued to back her coach even after the suspension imposed on him.

“I can only say, and I said it already before, that he never mistreated me, it was never anything like that,” she said after Kazakhstan’s defeat against Poland in the United Cup semi-finals. “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.” Rybakina added, sharing that she is not happy with the current situation. 

“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,” she said. For now, while Vukov will not be able to train Elena Rybakina in Australia, he is planning to travel to Melbourne, according to reports. It will be interesting to see how soon his challenges die down and if he returns to helping Rybakina soon.