Victoria Azarenka: "Want to be number one and win Grand Slams"
Victoria Azarenka still has big goals in mind: On the sidelines of the WTA 500 event in Adelaide, the Belarusian declared that she wanted to return to the number one throne among women.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit:
Jan 06, 2022, 08:45 pm
Victoria Azarenka started the 2022 season really well. Against Paula Badosa, against whom Azarenka suffered such a bitter three-set defeat in the final at the Indian Wells WTA 1000 event, the current number 27 in the women's tennis world showed an impressive performance this time. And kept the upper hand with 6: 3 and 6: 2. In the second round, the Belarusian had another success behind - and is now in the quarter-finals of the top-ranked WTA 500 event in Adelaide, which will face Iga Swiatek.
For the Belarusian only a stopover on a path that should lead the tennis mother back to the top of women's tennis. There, where Azarenka already seemed to have arrived in 2020, when she triumphed at the Western & Southern Open (WTA-1000) after the restart of the WTA tour and immediately afterwards reached the final of the US Open. This was followed by mediocre months for the former world number one, who dropped them to 21st place in the WTA charts.
Azarenka back to number one
Now things should go up again for Azarenka: "My ultimate goals are to be number one in the world and win Grand Slams, that's what I play for. That's what I think I am still capable of," said the 32nd -Year-olds on the sidelines of the Adelaide WTA event. As long as the Belarusian feels capable of achieving this goal, she will continue to play, assured Azarenka. "My goals never change."
The good finish in the preseason in particular is something that Azarenka wants to build on this year: "I think I have to take the positive from the end of last year with me," said the 32-year-old. "As always, I want to focus on what I can add to my game. At the end of last year, the idea was to do new things: go online, use my service more, be more aggressive, exercise more effectively." All of this should lead "Vika" back to the position where the Belarusian was already to be found in 2012. Almost ten years ago, when she celebrated her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.