Elena Rybakina entered her US Open quarter final against Qinwen Zheng with much more than a place in the semi finals on the line.
The star could earn world No 1 status if she wins the match and earns her place in the US Open final, but she did not start well at all.
She lost the first set 6-3 to Zheng and her body language was far from positive on Arthur Ashe Stadium as the Chinese star took a toilet break.
Rybakina could be seen having what Tim Henman described as an ‘animated discussion’ while on commentary duties for Sky Sports Tennis at the US Open.
Rybakina and Stefano Vukov were definitely raising their voices during the conversation, although it was difficult to make out what they were saying.
Naomi Cavaday, however, delivered some more details on the conversation between the Grand Slam winning star and coach.
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“Well this has been the dynamic from quite early on in the match. Clearly Rybakina’s not happy with what she’s being told to do and is essentially saying ‘it’s not working,'” revealed Cavaday.
“One of the issues that we heard midway through the first set was her feeling like she was being pulled around. Her coach, Stefano Vukov said, ‘You’re allowing her to open up the angle’. I think we heard a little bit more about that there Tim. She’s saying it’s easy for Zheng to take her wide.
Henman then added: “Yeah, and I think coach Vukov was saying do the same. If she’s trying to drop back in the court you can play the short angles to open it up and also on second serve. And also on serve, he was saying ‘You’ve got to be alert. You’ve got to be ready to move your feet if Zheng goes for that faster second serve, so plenty of things to think about for Rybakina.
Cavaday was not worried about the argument between the pair, however, as she has seen those sorts of conversations work for Rybakina in the past.
“If we think back to the Australian Open and actually Vukov was giving a lot of information to Rybakina in the semi final and the final and really helped her to turn those matches around,” she revealed.
“She was down in that final to Sabalenka and she was able to recover it. But she was taking on board the information. That was a bit of a battle between the two of them, but it seems like she just isn’t buying what he’s trying to tell her.”
Nevertheless, Henman was sure of the ferocity of the conversation.
“It sounded more like an argument than a discussion. She’s obviously frustrated. Let’s not forget she had five break points and didn’t take any of them, so it’s going to be interesting to see how she responds.”
Rybakina clearly took whatever Vukov was saying on board, however, as she took a 3-0 lead in the second set.
