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Elena Rybakina has faced criticism from tennis icon Pam Shriver after declining to pose with a WTA official. The Kazakhstani star secured her most significant trophy since her 2022 Wimbledon triumph following a straight-sets win over world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka at the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia , earning a £4million prize. Following the tournament, tradition dictates the champion should be photographed alongside WTA CEO Portia Archer. Yet while Rybakina posed with numerous other officials during the trophy ceremony, she maintained her distance from Archer, creating an awkward scene. The player's actions were understood to be a demonstration against the ban imposed on her coach, Stefano Vukov, for violating the WTA's code of conduct. Earlier in the year, the Croatian received a 12-month suspension preventing him from holding an official position at tournaments. Questions have been raised over several years about Vukov's conduct towards Rybakina, whom he guided to Wimbledon glory. In August, he successfully appealed the suspension and was able to resume his full coaching duties. Rybakina maintained she was pleased to have Vukov back working with her, saying: "We never had [an] issue" and that "He never mistreated me." After snubbing Archer, whose role includes overseeing code-of-conduct investigations, Rybakina faced backlash from commentator and former US Open finalist Shriver, who took to social media to write: "Imagine winning more prize money in one tournament than the entire Original Nine over their collective careers, then dissing WTA CEO because the CEO has tried to ensure stronger safeguards in your sports ... it's hard to imagine." The Original Nine were a band of female players who split from the tennis governing bodies in 1970 to start their own professional tour. Shriver, 63, has previously voiced her disappointment that Rybakina had resumed working with Vukov. She posted: "It's time for our entire sport to finally stand up to known abuse and cult like manipulations of players. This is a very sad situation and my prayers are with ER." During her winners' press conference, Rybakina remained tight-lipped about her reasons for not standing with Archer, but she did accuse the WTA of poor communication regarding the Vukov issue. She said: "I think we're all doing our job and we had the opportunity to have conversations but in the end it never happened so we're all doing our job and I think we're going to keep it this way." On her triumph, she added: "It's been an incredible week. I honestly didn't expect any result, to go so far is just incredible. Today was such a tough battle." An excellent season for Sabalenka, which saw her win the US Open, finish runner-up at the Australian Open and French Open and lose in the semi-finals at Wimbledon, ends in disappointment as a first Finals victory remains elusive. A tearful Sabalenka said in her on-court interview: "I am getting old, I am getting really sensitive. "So many things to be proud of. Not the best performance, she was definitely the better player. She literally smashed me out of the court."
