In early 2025, the WTA banned Vukov from coaching for a year after their investigation revealed verbal abuse. However, after a successful appeal, the Croatian coach was allowed to return to the Tour just before the US Open.
Rybakina, who mainly struggled with consistency in the first eight months of the season, came around late in the year. Firstly, the Kazakhs won Ningbo and reached the Tokyo semi-finals to secure the final spot in the WTA Finals, before scoring a perfect 5-5 in Riyadh to win the prestigious season-ending tournament.
The 26-year-old Kazakh has now also returned to the top 10 and will enter the 2026 season as the fifth-ranked player in the competition.
Vesnina: Vukov manages to restore Rybakina to its proper state using his own methods
“I think Lena has calmed down because she has someone back who knows her very well, knows her strengths and weaknesses, and understands how to wake her up, so to speak. Because I think that Lena, because of her somewhat phlegmatic temperament, can sometimes withdraw into herself and think. And Stefano Vukov knows how to bring her back to the right state with his own methods: ‘So you are on the field. You are winning, come on, you are a machine, you are a machine.’ work,” Vesnina said Championship.
After beating Aryna Sabalenka for her first WTA Finals title, Rybakina admitted in one of her interviews with Kazakh media that she was influenced by the coaching drama that unfolded early this year.
Rybakina hired Davide Sanguinetti to help her while Vukov was ruled out, and the Italian remained in the Kazakh team after the Croat returned.
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