"Disrespectful to him and me" - Elena Rybakina reflects on criticism for coach at Australian Open, explains why she strongly came out in his defense

Elena Rybakina reiterated her support for coach Stefano Vukov as he continues by her side after the Australian Open controversy. Rybakina felt it was disrespectful not only towards Vukov, but also towards her, that the Croatian coach was heavily criticized by many in the tennis community who commented without seeing the full picture.

Back at the Australian Open, Vukov was seen making animated gestures and repeatedly shouting at Rybakina during her semifinal against Victoria Azarenka. He was then on the receiving end of a lot of flak for the same, with many urging Rybakina to part ways with the coach.

The reigning Wimbledon champion came out strongly in defense of Vukov in a social media post shortly after the Australian Open. She expressed similarly strong sentiments after her Indian Wells quarterfinals win on Thursday, reflecting on the incident in Melbourne.

"People don't really know us that well and like to comment or say something that they don't know," Elena Rybakina said in an interview with Tennis Channel.

"It's not their business at the end of the day. I think it was kind of disrespectful to him and to me.

The Kazakh tennis star further explained why she did not hold back in returning the criticism to Vukov's critics and hopes that the topic will not be blown out of proportion going forward.

"I just had to do it so everybody knows that whatever they can see or think, they don't know us. Hopefully, we won't get any other comments like these," the 23-year-old added.

Rybakina set up a blockbuster semi-final clash with Iga Swiatek at Indian Wells, courtesy of a hard-fought 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-4 win against Karolina Muchova on Thursday.

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"Sometimes I can get mad also for no reason, but hopefully they understand" - Elena Rybakina on equation with her team during matches

Elena Rybakina competes during Indian Wells 2023.

Elena Rybakina went on to admit that there are times when her team is on the receiving end of some anger from her, which is just her way of letting it all out in highly stressful moments during matches. Rybakina joked about the same before giving an assurance that there would be no tension between her and her camp owing to such moments.

"Its difficult because, well, I'm stressed out kind of every point. So sometimes I can get mad also for no reason to tell something to my team, but hopefully they understand."

"I'm trying to focus on myself, sometimes it's good, sometimes its not. So its just something between us but everything is good," Rybakina said with a smile.

Rybakina is one of the very few players to have beaten Iga Swiatek over the past year. She beat the world No. 1 en route to the Australian Open final and earlier during an exhibition tournament in Dubai at the end of last year. An Australian Open final re-match between Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka in the 2023 Indian Wells final is also a possibility.