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Dubai: Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships runner-up Elena Rybakina’s coach Stefano Vukov believes his student holds the promise of being a world No. 1 player in the near future.
The London-based Vukov, who replaced Andrei Chesnokov last season, has overseen the rise of the 20-year-old Rybakina to her current World No. 17 on the WTA Tour. Turning professional in 2014, the big-hitting Russian-born Kazakh, has risen nearly 150 spots in the WTA Rankings over the past 12 months alone.
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Into the bargain, she has pocketed two titles on the WTA Tour, while being seeded for the first time at the 2020 Australian Open. She has been generous in her praise of her new coach, the former ATP player Vukov, under whose tutelage she has already won the Bucharest Open in 2019 and the Hobart International in January this year.
Elena Rybakina and coach Stefano Vukov in Dubai earlier this year
Elena Rybakina and coach Stefano Vukov in Dubai earlier this year
Image Credit: Courtesy Stefano Vukov
Vukov, who joined her as a travelling coach in 2019, has seen the results fall in place. But more importantly, he has been at close quarters to see how hard his student is prepared to work on and off the courts and become a better player and person.
“She’s made six WTA finals and won two titles, along the way defeating some of the top-10 players. For me, this is simply magnificent as she’s got great attitude and she is able to assimilate a lot of information and transfer that on the court straightaway. There aren’t many like her at the moment,” Vukov told Gulf News in a chat from his London residence.
“She’s very calm and very easy to work with as well. As I see it, she is potentially a top-10 player to start with. But Elena’s goal is to be the world number one, and we are all working towards that.”