Russian tennis has rarely lacked for character, and few embody that better than Elena Dementieva and Yevgeny Kafelnikov — two champions who defined their eras with contrasting flair.
Their insights are revealing — always filtered through a distinctly Russian lens. As Svetlana Kuznetsova remarked earlier this week, from their perspective Moscow-born Rybakina remains a Russian player — one simply but regrettably competing under a different flag.
Dementieva and Kafelnikov — Two of Russia’s Greatest Tennis Legends
Dementieva, the statuesque baseliner with a steel resolve behind her smile, spent a decade pushing the world’s best to their limits. Twice a Grand Slam finalist and the 2008 Olympic gold medallist in Beijing, she carried the flag for Russian women’s tennis when the sport’s balance of power was shifting east. Her blend of speed, intelligence and understated determination carried her to 16 WTA singles titles.
Kafelnikov, by contrast, was Russia’s first male Grand Slam winner — a player of precision and pride who never hid from a scrap. With titles at Roland Garros 1996 and the Australian Open 1999, plus Olympic gold in Sydney 2000, he set the standard for the generation that followed. Outspoken, occasionally prickly, but always forthright, he remains a compelling voice in the game he once ruled.
Now, in a candid conversation on Russian television for First & Red’s “Hardcourt (Хардкорт)” series, the pair turned their seasoned eyes to the turmoil surrounding Vukov-gate and the unraveling of Aryna Sabalenka’s campaign at the WTA Finals, where Elena Rybakina’s composure exposed the fault lines in the world champion’s team.
Running on Empty: Dementieva Says Fatigue, Not Fear, Undid Sabalenka in Riyadh
Aryna Sabalenka’s body finally gave out where her mind refused to. That, at least, was Elena Dementieva’s verdict after the world No.1’s defeat to Elena Rybakina in the WTA Finals decider — a match that looked less like a collapse and more like a woman running on fumes.
“You know, it seemed to me that she lacked a little freshness in the final,” Dementieva said. “We talked about the fact that Elena had difficult opponents — but Aryna Sabalenka had no less difficult ones.”
Both women had stormed into the final unbeaten. But Sabalenka’s three-set semi-final epic against Amanda Anisimova — which ended close to midnight — left her body clock in tatters before the biggest match of her season.
Midnight toll
It wasn’t just the late finish. “As you know, players don’t just finish after the match,” Dementieva explained.
“There’s still the press conference, communication with journalists, warm-down, stretching, recovery procedures… and you still need to eat, calm down, and fall asleep — which is hard when you’re in such an overexcited state.”
By the time Sabalenka finally shut her eyes, Rybakina had long since shut down her muscles and her mind. The Kazakh walked on court the next evening looking razor-sharp; the Belarusian, a half-step slower. “It affected her speed of decision-making — and the decisions themselves,” said Dementieva.
The Serena–Sharapova switch
Still, Kafelnikov was quick to defend her. “Her distinctive quality — and I want to say I’ve only seen this in two other tennis players on tour, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova — is that no matter how they’re playing, no matter what form they’re in, as soon as they feel the match slipping away, when the decisive moment comes, they somehow find these secret reserves,” he said.
Sabalenka had done exactly that earlier in the week — clawing past Coco Gauff, then Anisimova — but in the final, those hidden reserves stayed locked away. At 5–4 in the second set, Rybakina double-faulted twice to gift her a lifeline. Sabalenka couldn’t take it. “I think that was due to fatigue in the mind,” Dementieva concluded.
Wanting it too much
For Dementieva, Sabalenka’s downfall was a mix of exhaustion and overdrive. “Yes, I think [tiredness] was the biggest factor — and also her excessive desire,” she said. “She kept saying how much she wanted to win. She had been preparing specifically for this, even skipping some tournaments on purpose.”
Rybakina, by contrast, arrived almost by accident. “And what did Elena say at the award ceremony?” Dementieva recalled. “‘I’m glad I got here. I didn’t expect to go so far.’ If Mirra Andreeva had come to Tokyo and played even one match, it’s possible Elena wouldn’t have qualified at all.”
That freedom showed. “Of course, Elena had a strong desire to win — but not an excessive one. She still played calmly, cold-bloodedly, and just showed the highest level of skill. It was, in my opinion, just a brilliant victory from Rybakina.”
End of the road
Sabalenka will still finish the season as world No.1 — an achievement that speaks louder than one weary night in Riyadh. But this was a reminder that even the fiercest competitors run out of road eventually.
For once, her body said no before her will ever could. And Rybakina, calm as frost, was there to claim what Sabalenka had chased too hard to reach.
Vukov-Gate: “It Should Stay Between Them”
Elena Dementieva has seen plenty of tangled player–coach stories in her time. But few, she admits, have been as layered — or as publicly dissected — as Elena Rybakina’s long and winding partnership with Stefano Vukov.
The former world No.3 spoke candidly this week about the Kazakh’s career and the man who has shadowed both her rise and her controversy. Rybakina’s WTA Finals triumph in Riyadh brought yet another surge of scrutiny over Vukov, whose ban earlier this season for alleged verbal abuse had already made him one of the sport’s most polarising figures.
A fractured partnership that wouldn’t quite end
Rybakina’s 2024 season was a maze of absences, exits and quiet upheaval. She split with Vukov after reports of a toxic working dynamic, yet he never seemed entirely gone — staying around tournaments, even lingering at hotels as he tried to talk her round.
The surprise came when he reappeared in January, to the bafflement of Goran Ivanisevic, briefly her coach before walking away once Vukov returned in some capacity. He was soon banned from tour events, forcing Italian veteran Davide Sanguinetti to step in as a nominal frontman. Even he admitted Vukov was still “always there,” often coaching from afar or courts where the ban didn’t apply.
Once the suspension lifted, Rybakina’s form flicked back to its old brilliance: a title in Ningbo, and then a ruthless dismantling of Aryna Sabalenka to win the WTA Finals.
“It’s an old story — and it’s over”
Confronted with the image of Rybakina not wanting to be in the picture with WTA-CEO Portia Archer, Dementieva urged the tennis world to move on. “This story is very old, and I think it has been over for a long time,” she said. “It is very ambiguous. I understand that Elena, as a very private person, found herself in an extremely uncomfortable situation when the whole world began to discuss her personal and professional relationship with the coach.”
The WTA had opened a formal investigation before banning Vukov for a year — a decision that coincided neatly with Rybakina’s temporary break from him. “What happened between them, we do not know,” Dementieva added. “And I think it should stay between them.”
The bond that built a champion
For all the turbulence, Dementieva was keen to underline the depth of that partnership:
“Elena opened up to Stefano as a tennis player. It was with him that she achieved her biggest and most important victories. They started working together when she was in the top 200 — not when she was already a top-ten player. They went through a very difficult path together, both of them for the first time: Elena as a tennis player, Stefano as a coach with such a talented player for the first time.”
I am sure he immediately realized he had a rough diamond in front of him and wanted to help her. I admit he made some mistakes — perhaps he was too emotional or too demanding at times. But it came from a desire to help her and reveal her potential.”
Passion versus pressure
Dementieva contrasted their raw, combustible relationship with the more transactional approach of many long-term coaches on tour.
“Many coaches have been around for decades, moving from one player to another. By now, they are already tired of tennis, and their main concern is usually just the bonus after a successful tournament. Here, it is a completely different situation.”
Kafelnikov agreed. Still, Dementieva acknowledged the toll of that emotional strain. “Yes, maybe he overpressed her somewhere. It is not surprising that she stopped working with him. I don’t know if it was entirely her personal decision or due to public pressure,” she admitted. “She tried working with other specialists — she had great coaches like Goran Ivanisevic and Davide Sanguinetti — but she eventually returned to Stefano.”
“In the end, it was a triumph”
Rybakina’s decision to reconcile with Vukov may never sit easily with everyone, but Dementieva sees the result as vindication of sorts. “Whether returning to Stefano was right or wrong, the team’s responsibility is always the result — and in the last championship, it was a triumph.”
For once, the win might speak louder than the noise around it. What remains, in Dementieva’s eyes, is the picture of two flawed but fiercely driven people who climbed together from anonymity to the sport’s summit — and somehow, against the odds, made it work again.
Kafelnikov Amazed by Sabalenka and Rybakina’s High Serve Speeds
Yevgeny Kafelnikov isn’t easily impressed. But when the former world No.1 watches Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina thunder down serves at nearly 190 km/h, even he admits it’s something else.
“They serve as hard as I used to,” Kafelnikov said with a grin. “It’s very fast. But it’s not magic — it’s science.”
The Russian explained that the leap in racquet technology, string tension, and physical conditioning has changed everything. “It’s the evolution of materials and the science around tennis,” he said. “That’s why we’re seeing this kind of power. Women’s tennis might be reaching its peak in that sense.”
Dementieva’s Dinner-First Approach Being an Alternate at the WTA Finals
When the talk turns to alternates
Asked whether Dementieva had ever served as an alternate, both she and Kafelnikov burst out laughing. The 1996 Roland Garros champion recalled his own stint filling in. “I played five others in the main draw,” he chuckled.
Dementieva’s memory, though, was far less competitive. “I arrived as an alternate once and looked around — everyone was healthy, everyone was buzzing to play,” she said. “The moment I saw that, I did not do much. I didn’t even attend the matches.”
Instead, she made a far more enlightened discovery. “It was the end of the season, and I found this nice restaurant nearby — so I went there every day,” she laughed.
From laughs to admiration
The former Olympic champion finished with a nod to the current generation’s work ethic. “The professionalism shown by Ekaterina Alexandrova, I didn’t have,” she admitted. “She even played very well against Rybakina in that match!”
Between Sabalenka’s firepower, Rybakina’s precision, and a sport now built on science as much as sweat, Kafelnikov may be right: women’s tennis has never looked — or sounded — this explosive.
At the start of the broadcast, Kafelnikov had already confessed with a grin: “I’m keeping an eye on the WTA now.”