Goran Ivanisevic says he is no longer working with Elena Rybakina after her Australian Open exit.
The 25-year-old grabbed the headlines when it was announced Ivanisevic would begin coaching Rybakina on an interim basis ahead of the 2025 season in mid-December.
A layer of complexity was added when Rybakina rehired her former coach Stefano Vukov, in early January – despite the 37-year-old being provisionally banned.
The WTA suspended Vukov while an investigation into his conduct towards Rybakina continued. However, he denies any wrongdoing and the 2022 Wimbledon champion says she has never made any complaints about him.
One day after Rybakina lost to Madison Keys in the fourth round of the Australian Open, Ivanisevic has revealed they are no longer working together.
Goran Ivanisevic makes brief Elena Rybakina statement
The morning after the Keys defeat, 2001 Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic took to Instagram to say he and Rybakina had gone their separate ways but wished her and her team well going forward.
He wrote in an Instagram story: “After our trial period that finished with [the] Australian Open, I wish Elena and her team [the] best of luck moving forward.”
Two weeks ago, Ivanisevic addressed his coaching future with Rybakina following the return of Vukov – who was not given credentials to attend the 2025 Australian Open as part of his player’s team.
“I am, for the moment, here. What’s going to happen in a couple of days, I don’t know. But for the moment, I am here. Hopefully I will stay, and hopefully everything is going to be OK. But let’s take [it] day by day.”
Now, Novak Djokovic’s former coach Ivanisevic is now looking for work once more.
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Rybakina faces uncertain future with coach Vukov
After Rybakina lost 3-6 6-1 3-6 to Keys at the Australian Open, she could not make assurances over Ivanisevic’s future.
In her post-match press conference, she said: “Well, we still need to talk, of course, because as I said, we just tried the pre-season, and these couple of tournaments it was something just getting used to each other.
“We will definitely talk how the next schedule is going to look like.”
This comes weeks after The Athletic revealed Vukov had been provisionally suspended by the WTA Tour while under a confidential and private investigation for a breach of the tour’s Code of Conduct.
The report adds Ivanisevic – who won 12 grand slam titles as Djokovic’s coach between 2018-2024 – came close to quitting Rybakina’s team before the start of the Australian Open as he was allegedly ‘blindsided’ by her public announcement of Vukov’s return.
It remains to be seen what will happen with the WTA’s investigation and if Rybakina will announce an Ivanisevic replacement soon.
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