Elena Rybakina suffered a second-round defeat at the French Open on May 27 after her coach Stefano Vukov left the player's box during the third set. The world No. 2 lost 6-3, 1-6, 6-7 to Yuliia Starodubtseva in two hours and 28 minutes. Rybakina later explained that Vukov departed because he was feeling unwell.
Rybakina started strongly but committed 71 unforced errors across the match. She fought back from a 0-3 deficit in the second set and leveled the third set at 4-4 before losing the tiebreaker 10-4. Starodubtseva secured her first career win over a top-10 opponent with the victory at Roland Garros in Paris.