AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 27, 2023

Stefano Vukov

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We have Stefano Vukov, coach of Elena Rybakina. Quickly take us through the emotions and also satisfaction from the whole team at Elena's fortnight here in Melbourne.

STEFANO VUKOV: Very proud. Definitely very proud. Very proud of her. It's been pretty much a roller coaster again, like every Grand Slam. It's a special event. Same as Wimbledon.

You know, it's lots of emotions, but super proud, super happy.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Just how does this fortnight compare to Wimbledon in terms of just how she has managed everything? Also, just game-wise, how different has it been this two weeks compared to that?

STEFANO VUKOV: I think experience, big factor. Once you go through the roller-coaster ride once, you know what to expect, more or less, emotionally. For the team and for the player, definitely.

I think we had a really, really good preseason. I think she's improved a lot physically, tactically, tennis-wise, and something that maybe we didn't do as well before winning Wimbledon, so that was more of a surprise than this. So I was expecting for her to start doing well. Obviously you never know if you're going to go this far, but yeah, preparation was key.

Q. You just talked about experience at Wimbledon. Elena, during this tournament, she's used this word a lot. Can you give an example or two of specific ways either her mindset, her approach, anything she's done differently maybe because she learned about it during those two weeks at Wimbledon?

STEFANO VUKOV: I mean, yeah, I think that just being in certain stages of tournaments you have to behave in a certain way. You have to approach the match in a certain way. With certain emotions, you know, they are going to, for everybody, especially for the team also, also when we are watching you can see we are like up and down (smiling).

For her it's the same, definitely. She's more of an introvert, holds everything in side. So we're the, let's say, energy for her. That's what she wants.

I think that, you know, when you come prepared into a tournament, that also gives you a lot of confidence. Giving good preparation before events, something that as I said before, after Wimbledon also, we didn't have before the US Open made a huge, huge difference.

So not only for us, we know how to prepare a little bit better now for these kind of events, because obviously it's a two-week event, it's not the same as any other event. There is a lot of pressure from sponsors, media, a lot of commitments. So you have to be able to save energy in the correct way to go for the two weeks.

Q. Can you describe her as a person? What should the public know about her?

STEFANO VUKOV: She's a wonderful girl (smiling). She listens, listens a lot. That's very rare, I think. She's involved 100% into the sport, into what she does. Very calm, stoic, I would say, if that's the right word, yes?

But a sweetheart, definitely, really, really, with amazing family, amazing parents. No one puts really pressure on her. So, I mean, super easy to deal with. Super simple girl.

Q. You mentioned the up-and-down. The TV cameras last night appeared to show you yelling at stages at her during the match, which led to a bit of criticism for you.

STEFANO VUKOV: Yeah.

Q. Is that something you need to be better at or is that just coaching?

STEFANO VUKOV: I mean, first of all, I think that like it's easy to just, you know, take clips and then make something controversial. I mean, this is part of our sport. It's normal, you know.

As coaching, you know, there is 10,000 people out there. To get attention of the player is definitely not easy. People don't understand that. I have to scream out something if she's off track. Then people can interpret this how they want.

But at the end of the day, we are just doing our job. Coaching is now allowed, and I think she's using it in the best possible way.

Q. Always the family box is packed, which is a big difference compared to Wimbledon.

STEFANO VUKOV: Yes.

Q. How do you think the atmosphere of the team and Elena's family, how do you handle the situation? Because sometimes maybe player needs to be in a bubble isolated from these people.

STEFANO VUKOV: I mean, they are all more than welcome obviously to support. The more support we have, the better it is (smiling).

I think that she's generally just used to focus on a couple of people in the box. So doesn't matter if you put 20, 30, 40, 10,000 people there, her point of reference is mostly me, you know, for information or for, I don't know, stress release, you know, or even to the fitness coach or to her physio.

It's really nice to have all those people support. Definitely she appreciates it, but I think at the end, no matter where we go, she's always focusing on a couple of people there in the box and that's it.

Q. How do you see tomorrow's match? I was asking some of the journalists about a week ago when there were still quite a few players around, and we were wondering who, at their peak that's remaining in the tournament, plays at the highest level. Elena's name kept coming up and Aryna's name kept coming up, two different types of power players. How do you see that matchup? And she hasn't beaten her yet in her career.

STEFANO VUKOV: Yeah, I think Aryna is extremely powerful player, great forehand. Can have a great serving day. Can have a bad serving day, something we will try to capitalize on tomorrow.

Elena is a good rhythm player, so she can feed off the pace of Aryna also. I think on the backhand side we are a little bit stronger. But as a matchup, I mean, it's gonna be a lot of mistakes, a lot of winners, I'm sure about that, from both sides because there is going to be a lot of pressure.

I think who serves well tomorrow goes through. That's my feeling.

Q. I'm guessing you like being allowed to coach during a match. Could you give us an idea of the breakdown between how much of what you're saying to her is encouragement, or "Come on, let's go," things to do with her mind or attitude, let's say, versus strategic things where you're suggesting a certain kind of shot or to look for this serve from your opponent or things like that?

STEFANO VUKOV: I think mostly, you know, we make a plan before the match. We try to pick a few things that have to be done during the match no matter what. This sometimes can be tactical, can be attitude, can be, "Go for the point" or "Try not to go for the point."

I think with all the emotions, sometimes the player doesn't understanding which situation of the match they are, which is absolutely normal. You know, you're flowing, you're into a rhythm, which has happened also yesterday, for example, against Azarenka. A set, 3-1 up, two breakpoints. She stopped playing, Elena, for a couple of games, for example, instead of going for the point a little bit more.

There is moments we try to remind her, Hey, this is the moment to push. This is the moment to defend.

It's normal. There are moments of the match the player doesn't remember, for example, or in a pressure point, which side to defend more, where to serve more.

We are there to remind them. So obviously I think that coaching is very important. I think that the player, if the player wants to listen, obviously, they should use it as much as possible, because there is some matches that a few points make the difference. Look at the beginning of yesterday. 3-2 down, two bad choices. That's it. That's it. She could have been 3-0 or 4-0 up. I don't know, something like this. Not to be negative, but it's just our job, right? That's what we are there for.

Q. Can you say a few words about your own journey as a coach? How did you two meet each other? Do you have some kind of a philosophy of tennis?

STEFANO VUKOV: I mean, I started a long time ago. My God, I'm very young. I'm 35 years old but I started in Florida when I was 22.

After college, I loved tennis, wanted to stay in tennis. Played professional tennis but at a future level. I wasn't the greatest player, you know, but I developed throughout the years. You know, I kept on sparring with some professionals and then started coaching juniors and made my way through up to here.

I have never really been given a finished player. That's what I have been doing already now for 10, 12 years, trying to develop players, and that's what I like. That's what my passion is.

With Elena, I mean, my God, seems yesterday, but it's been already four years with Elena. I was coaching Anhelina Kalinina from Ukraine for a while. Wonderful girl, great player. When we finished our collaboration, she's the one that actually introduced me to Elena, and that really put a good word behind. And there was other possibilities for me, obviously, to work on tour with players that are a little bit higher ranked, but I saw a lot of potential in Elena. She's like 280 in the world.

When I saw her, like, I envisioned something straightaway. I don't know how to describe this. This is just like a feeling of a coach. I knew this girl can be top 10 in the world and she can win a Grand Slam, definitely.

She was a big server. The serve was not really the greatest still, but I saw that like definitely she could be dangerous and win many titles in her career. So I decided to take this role, started from 15,000, 25,000 events, all the way to top 10 in the world, Grand Slam champion, another Grand Slam final now. So I hope I'm doing a good job (smiling). Yeah.

Q. Now that you can coach, do you think it makes a big impact on her results?

STEFANO VUKOV: I think the player needs to understand by themself what to do on the court, sooner or later. But as I said, in every other sport, then there shouldn't be a coach then. No football, no basketball, no nothing. The player should play by themself and the coach should not be saying anything.

I think that, yes, there is a little bit of an edge. If you're clicking with your player, you understand each other, and you know what I expect from her and what she expects from me, then it's a big advantage I think on the court against everybody.

So she's very good at listening, and that's a huge factor. That changes maybe a lot of matches. I don't know if you remember when there was on-court coaching a couple years ago. I'm not saying that because I was on court able to go for a minute, but we were able to change around a lot of matches.

When this came off, you know, obviously it made a bit of a difference, I think, but is it marginal? Is it 5%, 1%, is it 100%? I can't tell you, but I think it's working really well when we can communicate with our players during the match.

Q. I just have to ask, but are there any bets whatsoever going into tomorrow's final? No more tattoos?

STEFANO VUKOV: Absolutely not. I think I have paid my bet, my favorite event. I'm not saying Australian Open is not my favorite tournament, but Wimbledon is a tournament that I have been, like, dreaming about to win as a player.

So if I made it as a coach somehow, I mean, a little bit of satisfaction and have to respect this, because it was a bet done years ago and she had me on camera. I had to respect it, you know, so yeah.