“I feel like I’m still growing, I still feel like I’m fulfilling my potential” – Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka has not won a Grand Slam title or been No 1 since 2013. But the 34-year-old Belarusian would not want to go back in time to 10 years ago
Victoria Azarenka at the 2024 Australian Open
The last time Victoria Azarenka won a Grand Slam singles title was at the Australian Open in 2013 when the Belarusian was 23 years old. That was also the last season that the now 34-year-old topped the world rankings. In the last 10 seasons on the tour, Azarenka has been to the finals of a Grand Slam only once (the 2020 US Open).
But Azarenka would never want to go back in time to that age as she told the media after reaching the fourth round in Melbourne for the 11th time in her career.
“I really don’t compare myself at all. I think from the outside people probably do that much more than I do it. I would never want to go back 10 years ago. There’s just no way,” Azarenka said after her win over Jelena Ostapenko on Saturday. “I love who I am. I worked really hard to go through things in my life and to excel at them, mature, go through tough experience and learn from them, learn some wisdom. There’s no way I would want to be 22 or 23.”
Life is not the only aspect she has gotten better at, according to Azarenka, now a single mom to her seven-year-old son Leo. The Belarusian believes her game has also evolved over the last decade.
“In terms of my game, I think that people really compare results rather than actual evolution of yourself and your game. I feel like I’ve definitely evolved as a player. The game itself evolved. You cannot really compare it as much. I only compare to myself who I was yesterday really. I mean, sounds cliché. I think that perspective is really helps me to understand how I can improve, how I can get better. As long as I have that desire and that intention to learn, what is there to compare to? I feel like I’m still growing, I still feel like I’m fulfilling my potential. To me, once that stops, I will be like, You know what, we move on to something else. As long as I have that feeling, why not? Why not keep going?”
I would love for him to experience & learn about his emotions & feelings, how you don’t step away from them or turn around from things like pressure, how do you face that, how do you succeed & elevate your performance.
Victoria Azarenka
Now considered one of the elder stateswomen on the WTA Tour, Azarenka is part of the WTA Player Council and has also shared her insights about life in recent times when interacting with the media and fans.
She shared some more on Saturday, as she revealed how she wants her son to learn how to deal with difficult emotions and wants to show him by example.
“For me, as I said on the court, I try to find ways how to communicate with Leo because he does a lot of sports now. He obviously watches me play, how I train, what I do. I want to be able to explain to him things, how to kind of verbalize some of the emotions and the feelings that I have and I go through because he’s going to go through whichever sport he kind of chooses,” Azarenka said. “I think it’s a very important topic. I’ve obviously never had that happen to me when I was a kid. I would love for him to experience and learn about his emotions and feelings, how you don’t step away from them or turn around from things like pressure, how do you face that, how do you succeed and elevate your performance. I just want to make sure that what I do and what I say kind of resonates to him, as well.”
The Belarusian will be back on the court on Monday to fac some more of those emotions as she takes on Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska for a spot in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
