Anastasia Pavluchenkova has ended her six-month partnership with coach Sam Sumyk. The Russian said she ended things with the former coach of Victoria Azarenka, Garbiñe Muguruza, Eugenie Bouchard and Vera Zvonareva because things were not clicking.
“We did a great job, but the initiative to end our cooperation, as I said, came from me," she told the Russian website Kommersant. I did this right after returning from Indian Wells. I felt something was wrong there, at the Australian Open. I did not like the atmosphere in the team, I could not open up on the court or beyond.”
Pavlyuchenkova, currently ranked 30 in the world, responded only after Sumyk had confirmed to French media that he was free to take on new work after finishing his stint with the Russian.
“Sam is an authoritative coach,” she said. “But I do not judge coaches by their name or merit. For me, the most important thing is the exchange of energy that occurs between people, not only in sports, but also in life. Alas, many coaches have a huge ego and they too often repeat the word 'I'. Because of this, problems often arise.”