Australian Open: Victoria Azarenka wants to know about health issues privately
Victoria Azarenka surprisingly failed in the first round of the Australian Open. The Belarusian struggled with difficulty breathing during her opening match. After her departure, the 31-year-old pleads for players to be able to decide for themselves in future whether they want to speak publicly about health issues.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit:
Feb 09, 2021, 06:24 pm
The scenes that were to take place at the end of the second movement of Victoria Azarenka's first-round match at the Australian Open were quite worrying. With her own serve, the Belarusian had to interrupt the game with a 40-0 lead and walked towards the bench, breathing heavily, while she called medical staff onto the pitch.
The reason: A sudden shortage of breath made the US Open finalist to create. The inadequate preparation for the tournament - Azarenka was one of a good 70 players who had to go into a two-week tough quarantine after positive COVID tests - the 31-year-old does not want to blame the 31-year-old solely for the health problem, although there are of course better ways had to prepare for a major: "I didn't really know how to prepare afterwards. I'm very disappointed."
Azarenka calls for more privacy on health issues
Azarenka didn't want to talk about her state of health either. Instead, the Belarusian pleaded that such topics should also be left private: "Nobody should be forced to talk about their state of health. I really don't understand the rule why a medical explanation is given has to be when someone is sick, injured or whatever, " said Azarenka in a press conference after her departure. The players who want to talk about it could of course do so.
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