Illness forced Elena Rybakina to retire midway through her third-round clash with Antonia Ruzic at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday. Fans online sympathized with the World No. 3 but blasted her coach, Stefano Vukov, who apparently wanted her to continue playing.
Ryabkina and Ruzic came face-to-face for the first time, and while they split the first two sets, the Croatian lucky loser broke early in the decider to go 1-0 up. This was when the Kazakh requested a medical timeout due to discomfort. She decided not to play further, sending Ruzic into her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal.
As Elena Rybakina sat in her chair and signaled to Vukov (in the stands) about her decision to retire, he appeared angry and animated, urging her to keep playing. Fans were livid with his behavior and pleaded with the two-time Grand Slam champion to part ways with him.
“Elena had been sick for a week, and still, V*kov wanted her to compete,” someone wrote.
“I love elena i just hope god can save her from the grips of Vukov????” a fan wrote.
“Omg he’s genuinely evil,” another one commented.
“v*kov can go f*ck himself. i hope his defenders saw him arguing with her when she was clearly ill and needed to retire. this is the exact kind of overplaying and pushing past her limits that got him banned from the tour in the first place,” a user chimed in.
“Vukov back to his usual ways. There is a place for a coach to be tough, but not when the athlete is breaking down physically. I said this before, I’ll say it again – Elena Rybakina is an addict. She is addicted to this toxicity. She needs an intervention,” another fan wrote.
“Elena, you’re the star, you’re his boss, please find a good therapist and leave that piece of sht 😭😭😭,” another user commented.
“Elena, please leave this absolute idiot,” a fan pleaded.
Vukov has garnered criticism for his behavior with the 26-year-old in the past as well.
Elena Rybakina Complained About Nausea Before Retiring at 2026 Dubai Open
After defeating World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the 2026 Australian Open final, Elena Rybakina suffered a quarterfinal exit at the Qatar Open. Being the No. 1 seed at the Dubai Open, she received a first-round bye before thrashing Australia’s Kimberly Birrell 6-1, 6-2 in an hour.
Against Antonia Ruzic, the Kazakh was trailing 0-1 in the decider when she decided to retire.
Here is the conversation between Rybakina and her physiotherapist:
Rybakina: “I have pain in the legs… [and] just sick, like nausea.”
Physio: “You haven’t had anything [to eat] this morning?”
Rybakina: “No, I ate, but in the morning… it was just a heavy head, I didn’t sleep well from yesterday. So I’m going to stop.”
Physio: “Do you want us to do any assessment?”
Rybakina: “No, because I know what it is, it’s just really tiredness and pain in the legs. So I don’t see the reason to continue.”
Physio: “That’s absolutely fine.”
Rybakina will next be in action at the WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open, beginning on March 4.
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