Elena Rybakina separated from her former coach of five years Stefano Vukov right before the 2024 US Open. After that, she hired Novak Djokovic’s ex-coach and a former Wimbledon champion, Goran Ivanisevic, in November. The Kazakh player and her Croatian coach’s partnership started on a positive note in Dubai. Reflecting on this move, Andy Roddick shares why he believes this partnership holds great potential for the WTA star’s future.

On Monday, Elena Rybakina, representing the Game Changers Falcons, emerged victorious at the World Tennis League exhibition tournament in the UAE, according to El.kz citing Sports.kz. Rybakina’s team secured the championship title. While Rybakina’s contribution was instrumental to the team’s win, her personal performance in singles matches yielded mixed results. She secured a win against Simona Halep (6:4) but fell short in her encounters with Aryna Sabalenka (6:7), Iga Swiatek (3:6), and Mirra Andreeva (2:6).

Ivanisevic shared a snippet of his optimistic partnership with Rybakina with a heartwarming post on his IG platform. “Great first [two] weeks of preseason in Dubai. Let’s keep it up,” he wrote, dropping a photo with the WTA star alongside her physical trainer Azuz Simcich and physiotherapist Stefan Duell. Rybakina’s new mentorship delighted the fraternity, assuring them of great progress for the Kazakh player in 2025. Subsequently earned praises from Djokovic’s former rival, Roddick!

In this week’s Served podcast episode, Andy Roddick and Jon Wertheim analyzed the WTA Top 20 rankings, reflecting on their own 2024 seasons and outlining their goals and areas for improvement in 2025. “Elena Rybakina at No. 6….,” began the 2003 US Open champion.

“Recently made headlines for hiring Goran Ivanisevic as her coach, which I didn’t have a pulse on at all. Hadn’t heard anything about it. I like this partnership just basically because Goran has a sense of humor(laughs). It’s it is absolutely flies in the face of what you think and what you’ve heard that her life must have been like in her previous coaching relationship. So I hope she finds that space. I hope she finds that joy. I hope we see more of her on court,” said Roddick.

Roddick seems to highlight Rybakina’s rumored rocky relationship with her former coach, Vokuv, which landed both of them in a pool of controversy. Roddick believes Ivanisevic’s presence would help the Kazakh player to maintain her calm and develop a lighthearted attitude towards the sport where she enjoys her game. This might result in better physical fitness or who knows another major title for her!

Fact check: Rybakina has a 42 and 11 W-L record because she didn’t play many events. She withdrew from the Paris 2024 Olympics, the National Bank Open in Toronto, the US Open, etc.

Interestingly, Roddick was more fascinated by this partnership since Ivanisevic never coached a female player before. When the American heard about their collaboration, he revealed great intrigue.

Andy Roddick feels Elena Rybakina’s partnership with Goran Ivanisevic is “certainly exciting”

At the Tennis Channel Live podcast in November, the former American pro revealed why he finds immense potential in Elena Rybakina and Goran Ivanisevic’s collaboration. “I was surprised but I shouldn’t have been (by Elena Rybakina hiring Ivanisevic as her coach). I think we’ve become a little narrow-minded when Goran’s only working with men. So we didn’t have his name in the conversation, but if you think about it, past my own ignorance, both big servers who can hit all spots on the court.”

His words echoed how he ruled out Ivanisevic’s possibility, given the Croatian coach has only trained male players(Marin Čilić (2013–2016) Tomáš Berdych (2016–2017) Milos Raonic (2018–2019) Novak Djokovic(2019–2024)) before. Roddick believed Ivanisevic is a perfect fit for her. “what does Rybakina need? Maybe a little bit of levity in her box. Maybe someone who has a sense of humor, every once in a while. So, on merit, it seems like an unbelievable fit. Certainly exciting,” said Roddick.

Elena Rybakina’s partnership with Goran Ivanisevic has excited the fraternity. Whether the duo keeps up with the expectation depends on Rybakina’s performance this season. However, given her record, it seemed Elena Rybakina can unleash her A-game, delighting the fraternity with her impressive gameplay, both mental and physical.