Elena Rybakina is once again making a change to her team, ending her relationship with coach Davide Sanguinetti shortly after it was confirmed that the ban on Stefano Vukov was lifted. The 2022 Wimbledon champion will continue to work with her Croatian coach, who can now be back inside stadiums to accompany her.
The changes to Rybakina’s team have drawn attention over the past year, after it was revealed in late 2024 that Vukov had been accused of mistreatment toward the Kazakh player. A WTA investigation determined that the situation warranted a ban on the Croatian coach while the facts were clarified. From the beginning, Rybakina has defended Vukov—from whom she separated in late 2024, hiring Goran Ivanisevic as his replacement. Ivanisevic, the former coach of Novak Djokovic, was making his first appearance as a coach on the WTA tour.
However, the partnership only lasted two months, and they parted ways after the Australian Open in early 2025. This all happened after Rybakina brought Vukov back to her team, with Ivanisevic accompanying her during the tournament and Vukov joining the former world No. 3 player outside of any WTA, ITF, or associated institutional facilities.
Ivanisevic left Rybakina’s team because he was not in agreement with the role he would have given Vukov’s return. Despite the ban still being in effect, Vukov remained an active part of Rybakina’s team, even though he could not enter stadiums or get accreditations to accompany her closely during tournaments.
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Sanguinetti joined Rybakina after Ivanisevic’s departure and had been working as her main coach since February of this year. Together with the Italian coach—the former coach of Dinara Safina and Brandon Nakashima—the 26-year-old player won the title at the WTA 500 Strasbourg Open and reached three semifinals in WTA 1000 tournaments.
However, she did not have the best results in Grand Slam tournaments, reaching the 4th round at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and the US Open, but she couldn’t advance to the quarterfinals in any of them. The Kazakh player was eliminated in this US Open by Marketa Vondrousova—the 2023 Wimbledon champion—and finished her participation in 2025 major tournaments without reaching the quarterfinals, something she had achieved during the last four seasons.
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Vukov had worked with Rybakina since 2019, and the player herself has cited him as key to her rise in the rankings and for winning the Wimbledon title back in 2022.
In June of this year, it became known that Vukov had appealed the one-year ban that prevented him from accessing stadiums and practice courts. The WTA finally accepted the appeal, and in August, it was announced that Vukov could return to accompany Rybakina more closely. The Croatian coach was with Rybakina during the last tournaments, working together with Sanguinetti.
