After claiming the largest payday in ladies’s tennis historical past, Elena Rybakina refused to pose for a photograph with WTA Tour chief government Portia Archer.
Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, beat world primary Aryna Sabalenka in straight units on the WTA Finals on Saturday.
However the Kazakh 26-year-old, who climbed to fifth on the planet following the victory – which secured £3.98m in prize cash – stood separate from Sabalenka and Archer throughout the post-match celebrations, regardless of being requested to hitch them.
Why?
Rybakina declined to say what her motive was, though the incident comes on the finish of a season the place the WTA issued a ban to her coach Stefano Vukov.
Vukov was suspended earlier this yr after being discovered to have breached the WTA’s code of conduct, following an impartial investigation into his behaviour in the direction of the participant.
On the Australian Open in January, Rybakina criticised the WTA, saying she didn’t “agree with a number of issues” the governing physique was doing with regard to her working relationship with Vukov.
Rybakina has maintained that she was by no means mistreated by the 38-year-old Croat.
Vukov denied any wrongdoing and, having had his ban lifted in August, was current as Rybakina triumphed on the tour’s season-ending event.
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