Elena Rybakina has had a consistently stressful coaching problem for years due to the alleged abusive nature of her long-time coach Stefano Vukov. More recently, the issue has been worse for the player because she let Vukovi go at the end of last year only to bring him back on January 1 of this year. In the meantime, she worked with, and then let go of, Goran Ivanisevic.
Vukov was unable to work with Rybakina at the Australian Open due to a provisional ban by the WTA. That suspension is not going to end anytime soon. According to The Athletic, Vukov won't be able to come back until one year has passed. In the article, WTACEO Portia Archer is referenced as saying Vukov called Rybakina "stupid" and she would still be in Russia "picking potatoes" if not for him.
The truth is that even during matches people could hear Vukov hurl insults at Rybakina. If this was by intention between the two, that would seem to be an odd motivating technique. In reality, Vukov just appeared to be a bully toward the player.
Elena Rybakina's coaching fiasco, Rafael Nadal gets richer, and Alexander Zverev tries to gain points
There is also another element to the Rybakina and Vukov fiasco and one that is not overly surprising. They appeared to be in a romantic relationship. Archer said that there was "increasing evidence that Vukov and Rybakina are involved in a romantic relationship and that he stayed in her hotel room in Melbourne." That somehow only makes things worse as far as the abuse, though.
In different news, Rafael Nadal is much richer than he was even a month ago. This is because Nadal reportedly sold nearly half his stake (44.9 percent) in his tennis academy for $98.7 million. The deal appears to be more about the value of property attached to the academy than anything tennis-related.
Nadal's net worth is reported to be nearly $220 million. This last piece of transaction is only going to make him a third more wealthy. That is a lot of money.
Another player earning a bit of coin recently is Alexander Zverev. Fully recovered from an ankle injury a few years ago, he is ranked No. 2 on the ATP and that is unlikely to change anytime soon. Zverev is a fantastic clay-court player, and we are about to embark on clay-court season in tennis in a bit over a month.
We also know that the German is adding even more clay-court events to his schedule. He will play the Argentina Open before playing the Rio Open. He should be the favorite at both tournaments. If he does well, he will gain points and try to set up a showdown for No. 1 later in the year.