Every week in the tennis world, countless stories and news emerge that don’t always make headlines but are too intriguing to overlook. It can be on-court or off-court developments that go under the radar due to bigger storylines from the past week. This week’s edition features Elena Rybakina’s new coaching partnership and the reason behind Karen Khachanov’s annoyance with Ugo Humbert.
Tennis News Weekly Roundup
Khachanov unhappy with Humbert’s Behaviour
Karen Khachanov and Ugo Humbert played a brilliant match in the semifinals of the Paris Masters. But the match will be remembered for other reasons. Khachanov had lots to say after his loss to Humbert. The Russian player looked injured towards the end period of the match and did not like the continuous celebrations from Humbert, which he clearly felt were over the top given the circumastances.
In Khachanov’s words: ” I told him at the net to be a little bit respectful, no idea how to behave. I always play fairly. I will congratulate him if he behaves like a normal person. You can celebrate after the match with the crowd, do anything you want. But, to celebrate while one guy is in the ground? Ok, see you next time.”
In tennis, you never know if your opponent is certainly injured or not and Humbert was in the zone and feeding off of the crowd, which he has done all week and it helped him. Even when you think your opponent is injured, you have to focus more and play like everything is the same. But celebrating when your opponent is down on the ground is not a good look.
Goran Ivanesivic to coach Rybakina
Starting from the off-season, Elena Rybakina will be coached by Goran Ivanisevic. Rybakina split with her longtime coach, Stefano Vukov, before the US Open and Ivanisevic looks like a great choice. The Croatian enjoyed massive success with Novak Djokovic and is a former Wimbledon champion in 2001, so he knows how to win big titles as a player and coach.
Ivanisevic helped improve Djokovic’s serve and generally appeared to instill a more aggressive mind-set in the 24-time Major champion. Rybakina may not be at Djokovic’s level, but Ivanesevic should still be able to help with Rybakina’s return game and transition game. It will be interesting to see what he and Rybakina can do together.
