Goran Ivanisevic has quit as Elena Rybakina’s coach after her exit from the Australian Open. His departure comes in the wake of Rybakina’s previous coach, Stefano Vukov, rejoining her team.

On January 1, Rybakina announced on social media that Vukov would rejoin her team for the 2025 season. Two days later, The Athletic exclusively reported that Vukov had been provisionally suspended by the WTA Tour while under a confidential and private investigation for a breach of the tour’s Code of Conduct.

Vukov, who is still suspended, denies breaching the WTA’s code, and Rybakina has repeatedly stated that he has “never mistreated her.”

Ivanisevic came close to quitting before the start of the Australian Open. He spent a month in Dubai with Rybakina in December, then flew with her to Perth, Australia for the group stages of the United Cup, where Rybakina helped Kazakhstan reach the semifinals.

Ivanisevic then flew to Sydney with Rybakina the morning of January 2, to discuss his future after just three official WTA Tour singles matches together. Two people briefed on the WTA’s investigation, who had attended some of Rybakina’s recent events before the Australian Open, described Ivanisevic as blindsided by Rybakina’s public announcement of Vukov’s return and said that he was seriously considering his position as her coach. The people, like all the sources in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their relationships in tennis.

In an emotional meeting, Rybakina pleaded with Ivanisevic to stay on her team, becoming upset at the possibility of entering the first Grand Slam tournament of 2025 without a coach, according to three sources with personal and professional relationships with Rybakina and Ivanisevic who were briefed on the situation. A spokesperson for Rybakina did not comment on the nature of the meeting.

Ivanisevic agreed to join her in Melbourne, where the No. 6 seed lost to American No. 19 seed Madison Keys in the fourth round. In her final news conference, she confirmed that she had spoken to Vukov before and between matches. The sources with personal and professional relationships with Ivanisevic said he found coaching Rybakina during the situation surrounding Vukov and the WTA investigation very challenging.

Ivanisevic confirmed the split on social media Janaury 21, describing his time with Rybakina as a “trial period” that had ended.

Rybakina split with Vukov, who had coached her for five years, on the eve of the 2024 U.S. Open. Rybakina reached No. 3 in the world and earned her sole major to date, the 2022 Wimbledon title, while being coached by Vukov. The WTA Tour first started receiving complaints about Vukov, which described his conduct towards Rybakina as harsh and at times aggressive, more than two years ago. Further complaints were made after they parted ways.

Vukov was courtside for one of Rybakina’s matches in the December World Tennis League exhibition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and flew to Melbourne to join up with her despite being barred from coaching and from the Australian Open grounds at Melbourne Park.

According to two further sources briefed on the WTA investigation, tour officials had decided not to issue a decision on Vukov until Rybakina’s exit from the Australian Open, and possibly not before the tournament ends.

A WTA Tour spokesperson did not confirm a timeline for the decision during the first week of the tournament.

Before Rybakina, Ivanisevic was most recently coaching Novak Djokovic. They split in March 2024, having spent six seasons together in which Djokovic won 12 Grand Slam titles.

(Top photo: Hannah Peters / Getty Images)