Do we like them?

Do we like Elena Rybakina?

Our score: 7 out of 10. A clean record on harm and a quietly decent track record, marked down for standing by a coach the WTA once suspended.

Rybakina is the quiet one of the top tier. This year she won the Australian Open and the US Open and finished the season as world No. 1, the first Kazakhstani player to do it in singles or doubles. In the WTA's release she called it “an incredibly special moment for me”.

The story that follows her around isn't about something she did. It's about her long-time coach Stefano Vukov. The WTA suspended him for a year in 2025, and The Athletic reported a letter from the tour's CEO citing “abuse of authority” and verbal and physical abuse. Vukov denied the allegations, and his suspension was lifted in August 2025 after he appealed through private arbitration.

Rybakina has stuck by him throughout. In February 2025 she said she was “disappointed with the situation, and how the process went”. After he returned she said he “knows me the best” and that his advice makes a difference. She has also called the whole saga an “unpleasant experience”. Where you land depends on whether you read it as loyalty to someone who has coached her for years or as a blind spot. It's her call, but it's the main reason she isn't a straight pass.

On the harm check, the record is clean. Searches for anything she has said or done about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants, vaccines or the climate came up empty, and nothing turned up about who she campaigns or donates for. The one political thing she has faced is being asked about her Russian-born background, and she has said she is happy representing Kazakhstan. That's a gap in the record, not a tick for her, but there's nothing nasty to report.

The recent drama is mostly tennis-world noise. After her Queen's Club quarter-final loss in June, Rybakina said she copped abuse on social media, which she put down to gamblers. She handled it by stepping back from the platform, saying she'd be fine not posting much if she weren't a public figure. Abuse aimed at her counts for nothing against her.

The good stuff is modest but real. In 2023 she gave 2.5 million tenge each to 14 junior Kazakh players, saying young girls need support because it isn't easy for everyone. She also credited the Kazakhstan federation's help when she turned professional. That's not a foundation or a big public campaign, but it's the right instinct.