Elena Rybakina is out of the upcoming WTA 500 tournament in Seoul after shockingly splitting with long-time coach Stefano Vukov in mysterious circumstances and also abruptly withdrawing from her US Open second-round match.
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In the opening couple of days of the final Grand Slam of the year, the Kazakh tennis star was in the headlines after she parted ways with her coach and rumors started to swirl around that there might be something bigger to the entire story because Vukov was apparently removed from the official list of WTA coaches.
That same day when some wild claims started to make rounds about the 2022 Wimbledon champion, she announced she was pulling out of her match against Jessika Ponchet. The interesting thing was that Rybakina simply cited "injuries" as the reason without mentioning anything specifically.
Unfortunately, I have to withdraw from my match today due to my injuries. I did not want to finish the last Grand Slam of the year this way but I have to listen to my body, and I hope I can close out the remainder of the year strong. Thank you to all the fans who have and continue to support me, and I wish the remaining players good luck," the world No. 4 said in a statement.
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Rybakina won't be returning to action in Seoul next week
Since the US Open drama, the 25-year-old hasn't made any announcements but there was some hope that she could be back to action at the start of the Asian swing. Unfortunately, that won't happen.
Meanwhile when it comes to the Vukov split, the tennis community was left stunned after Rybakina decided to end their five-year partnership just before the start of the US Open.
After kicking off her run in New York, she was asked a couple of questions about the coaching decision. But the Kazakh provided very short responses, without revealing too much or anything.
It will be interesting to see if Rybakina at least comes back at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, which starts on September 25th.
