Certain things happened off the court," Ivanisevic reflects on his brief collaboration with Rybakina

For the 2025 season, Elena Rybakina had decided to hire Goran Ivanisevic as her coach, just a few months after parting ways with Stefano Vukov.

However, the collaboration between the Kazakh player and the Croat was short-lived, as Ivanisevic chose to step away following Rybakina's elimination in the round of 16 at the Australian Open.

Appearing as a guest on the podcast hosted by former footballer and now coach Slaven Bilic, the 2001 Wimbledon winner explained the reasons behind the split:

"It was a bit strange. I won’t go into too much detail, but it’s a somewhat strange and sad story at the same time. I consider her one of the best players in the world. She plays an elegant, simple game, and I enjoy watching her play.

Unfortunately, certain things happened off the court that I couldn’t control and didn’t want to be part of. I didn’t want to be associated with that situation. So, I decided it was better to stop. I wish her great success in her career.