The 2020 tennis year of ... Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka made one of the most sensational comebacks after the corona shutdown.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Dec 10, 2020, 09:09 am
Victoria Azarenka was one of the players at the beginning of the 2010s: Vika won two major titles (Australian Open 2012, 2013) and led the world rankings for 51 weeks. What followed after that were challenging times for the now 31-year-old. A foot injury stopped her in 2014, and when she set out to attack at the top again in 2016 (after winning tournaments in Brisbane, Indian Wells and Miami), she was sidelined again. This time because of a really nice news - Azarenka was pregnant - but the new comeback was overshadowed by custody disputes, because of which she was not allowed to leave California without her son Leo.
The low point at the Australian Open in 2019: After an opening defeat against Laura Siegemund , Azarenka sat desperately in the press conference. "I've been through a lot in my life and sometimes I wonder why I'm doing this to myself," she complains. "I play really well in training, but I can't do it in a match."
Azarenka: Mega comeback in Cincinnati and at the US Open
2020? Should everything get better again, albeit after a difficult beginning. In Melbourne she was absent for personal reasons and only played in Monterrey (opening defeat against Tamara Zidansek). When the tour comeback in Lexington in August, she was still defeated by Venus Williams. But then: she started an incredible run! In Cincinnati Vika took the title after victories over Donna Vekic, Caroline Garcia and Johanna Konta (Naomi Osaka could not compete in the final); at the following US Open she beat Aryna Sabalenka, Elise Mertens and Serena Williams, among others, before Naomi Osaka turned up in the final, despite leading the set.
"I was ready to end my career," said Azarenka, reflecting on the time before her comeback run. "It was close." She was also more mature, "I have more fun in tournaments." When you are young, you often have not so good people around you who force tunnel vision "not to the right, not to the left". You have now changed.
Crazy: Azarenka flew straight to Rome after the US Open, won her opening game against Venus Williams there just four days after the New York final - and then beat Sofia Kenin 6-0, 6-0. (Keyword "crazy tennis world": Kenin then reached the final of the French Open.) Azarenka ended her season with a final one in Ostrava.
Azarenka: 2020 in numbers
- 18 wins out of 6 losses (all 18 wins from Cincinnati)
- In the world rankings, it went from 49th to 13th place
- 1 tournament win (Cincy), 2 finals (US Open, Ostrava)
- $ 1.9 million in prize money
- WTA comeback player of the year