Amid Elena Rybakina's success at the 2026 Australian Open, let's meet her coach, Stefano Vukov.
Elena Rybakina is currently making headlines for her remarkable win at the 2026 Australian Open. After giving a tough fight to Belarusian tennis star, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena won the tournament. She beat America’s tennis champion, Jessica Pegula, in the semi-finals and made her place in the 2026 Australian Open final. It is noteworthy to mention that earlier, Elena and Jessica held equal positions; they won three matches each. But now, Kazakhstan’s tennis champion is leading the charts.
Amid Elena Rybakina’s rising success, let’s meet the man behind her success. Yes, you guessed it right. We are talking about Elena’s coach, Stefano Vukov. In 2024, the Wimbledon champion’s personal life garnered a lot of attention because she was rumoured to be dating her coach, Stefano. But do you know Stefano was banned by the WTA following his alleged secret affair with Elena? Yes, you read it right. So, without further ado, let’s jump in to know more about Stefano Vukov.
Stefano Vukov is a Croatian former tennis player. He is now a Croatian tennis coach. He is widely known for coaching Kazakhstan’s tennis champion, Elena Rybakina. For the uninitiated, Stefano began coaching Elena in 2019. The duo dominated the headlines with their partnership. According to a report by Tennis 365, Stefano was born in March 1987 in Rijeka. His mother is a dentist, and his father is a software engineer. He began playing tennis at the age of 12. Later, he retired from the sport and started coaching juniors. Reflecting on his journey, Stefano said to WTA Insider in 2020:
"I really loved the game. I really love tennis. So when I graduated from college, I decided to stay in the sport a bit. I was playing quite a lot of matches around still, but I didn't feel that I had it in me maybe, to keep on going on tour, to push it, to try to go that path. But I used to love to hit the ball. So I started sparring. I started working with juniors, with kids, eight years ago in Florida. I worked my way up with a couple of juniors, started taking girls ranked 800, 900 to future levels, 15Ks, 50Ks, 100Ks. Started winning some events."
Before the 2025 Australian Open, Elena Rybakina was asked whether she was the one who made the complaint against her coach, Stefano, that led to his provisional ban. In response, she said that she didn’t make any complaint. She mentioned to the media that Stefano never mistreated her. She added that there had been a lot of things the WTA did with which she didn’t agree. She was quoted as saying:
"I don't agree with a lot of things the WTA do in the sense of my relationship with Stefano. I have never made any complaints or any of these things. I always said that he never mistreated me. I don't really want to speak and want to focus on my matches here. I'm not happy with the whole situation, especially when still some coaches are making some comments and the people who aren't so close to the tennis world, they see the comments and they're picking it up, making even more of a show out of this. I don't think it's fair."
Stefano Vukov faced a ban in January 2025 due to violating the code of conduct. WTA chief executive, Portia Archer, in a confidential three-page summary of the investigation, outlined Stefano’s harsh actions towards Elena. Later, Stefano told The Athletic that he never ab***d anyone. Later, in August 2025, the WTA lifted his provisional suspension. Portia’s summary of the investigation can be read as:
"Engaging in ab*** of authority and abusive conduct towards the WTA Player, including compromising or attempting to compromise the psychological, physical or emotional well-being of the Player; engaging in physical and verbal ab*** of the Player; and, exploiting your relationship with the Player for further personal and/or business interests at the expense of the best interest of the Player."
What are your thoughts on Stefano Vukov facing a ban? Let us know.
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