Kazakhstani star, Elena Rybakina was in red-hot form earlier this year. She won titles in Brisbane, Abu Dhabi, and Stuttgart! After that, she reached the quarter finals of the Roland Garros and made it to the semi finals of the Wimbledon Championships. However, she struggled a bit to find her momentum in the later phases of the season. Frequent injuries and illnesses forced her to withdraw from quite a few tournaments. Rybakina was forced to give a walkover to Jessika Ponchet in R2 of the US Open. After that, we saw her reshuffling her team! She parted ways with her long-time coach Stefano Vukov and brought in Novak Djokovic’s ex-coach, Goran Ivanisevic. Can the Croatian bring success to her camp in 2025?

The 53-year-old, Goran Ivansevic, comes up with a vast amount experience in the racket sport. In his playing career, he best records were him reaching the world number 2 spot in July 1994 and winning the Wimbledon Championships in 2001. Interestingly, both of their major successes so far came in Wimbledon. Elena Rybakina won her first major title at the 2022 Wimbledon Championship! Now, it’ll be interesting to see if Ivanisevic helps Rybakina to land her second major title in the 2025 season.

With the AO around the corner, Eurosport experts were given the task to make some predictions for the new season. One of those questions was who’ll be the “most successful coaching team?” In reply to this question, Alex Corretja said, “The most successful one is going to be Goran [Ivanisevic] and Rybakina.” After that, Laura Robson added, “I’m going to go Rybakina and Ivanisevic.” Even the British former pro tennis player, Tim Henman was seen reflecting a similar thought. He also named, “Ivanisevic and Rybakina.” Elena Rybakina’s best record at the AO was reaching the final in the 2023 season. However, at that time, she was defeated by Aryna Sabalenka.

Does Rybakina have any chances in the 2025 edition? Well, according to Alex Corretja, Elena Rybakina will win her second Grand Slam title at the upcoming AO. Not only that, he also claimed, “I’m actually thinking she might finish as No. 1 this year.” Rybakina is currently ranked 6th in the world and if she manages to achieve this feat, then surely Goran Ivanisevic will be regarded as one of the greatest coaches of all time in not only ATP but also WTA!

What did Elena Rybakina say about her new coach, though? There were a few rumors about the turbulent end to her partnership with Vukov. During a previous interview, Rybakina first addressed the issue and after that, she went on to share a few words on Ivanisevic. She started her speech by saying, “I know that a lot of, I guess, rumors going on. But honestly we just part ways with Stefano. I think we had incredible results over five years. We achieved a lot.” After that, she expressed her excitement to work with someone like Goran Ivanisevic.

“I definitely wanted to work with him (Ivanisevic). I’m sure since he said yes also, so. It’s just very interesting for me. I want to learn. Yeah, I’m just looking forward. As we just said, it’s something new for me. Also, I’ve been with one coach for a long time. I want to learn,” said Rybakina in a previous interview. What did the coach say about joining Elena Rybakina’s team?

“She can win more Slams” – Goran Ivanisevic looks quite optimistic about Elena Rybakina’s future

Goran Ivanisevic has worked with Novak Djokovic for almost 5 years (2019-2024)! Throughout this phase, he helped Djokovic win 12 major titles. Apart from Djokovic, he has also coached the likes of Marin Cilic, Tomas Berdych, and Milos Raonic. So, Ivanisevic’s vast coaching experience can surely bring a completely different dimension to Elena Rybakina’s game.

During an interview with TenniS Major, Goran Ivanisevic shared his thoughts about his decision to take up this new role. “After Novak, it’s really hard to coach anyone, so I needed something completely different,” said the former world number 2. He wanted a challenge and Elena Rybakina gave her that opportunity. Speaking about this opportunity he added, “I think I chose the right one for me – because of Elena’s playing style and potential, but also because of her personality. Elena is calm and I can’t wait to get going. I think it’s going to be great.”

How did he feel Elena Rybakina would fit into his style of coaching? In reply to this, he said, “I don’t know her too well personally, but my friend Zule is her fitness coach – we worked together with Tomas Berdych – and the word around the Tour generally is that she is a great person. Game-wise, she has got a big serve, tall, strong hitter who plays aggressively, she won Wimbledon just like me. I feel I can teach her something. I mean, she is already No.5 in the world, but I think she can win more Slams, that’s for sure.”

Even American tennis legend Andy Roddick gave a nod to this new partnership saying, “They both are super tall, they both hit spots, they both have massive serves. The two players that Goran has worked with, Cilic and Novak, hit hard and flat through the court. That is a match for Rybakina as well. They’ve both won Wimbledon, they’re both good on the same surfaces.” Do you think Rybakina-Ivanisevic partnership will be a superhit?