Victoria Fiodorovna Azarenka, or Viktoryia (Belarusian: Вікторыя Азарэнка, Азаранка, Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Her career high ranking is World No. 6, which she achieved on October 26th 2009. As of August 2nd 2010, Azarenka is ranked World No. 12.
Azarenka Azarenka has won two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles —
- Victoria Azarenka
2007 US Open with Max Mirnyi and 2008 French Open with Bob Bryan. She has won four singles titles, including the Premier Mandatory 2009 Sony Ericsson Open and has made three Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances.
Personal: Her move to Scottsdale from Minsk, Belarus was aided by National Hockey League goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and his wife, who is a friend of Azarenka’s mother. In 2009 she posed in the French edition of FHM.
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- Victoria Azarenka
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- Victoria Azarenka
Nickname: Vika
Country: Belarus
Residence: Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
Date of birth: 31 July 1989
Place of birth: Minsk, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR
now Belarus
Height: 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro: 2003
Plays: Right-handed; Two-handed backhand
Victoria Azarenka Interview Video
Victoria Azarenka Video
Playing style: Azarenka is an aggressive baseliner. She is known for her well timed and powerful groundstrokes. Her best shot is her backhand which is regarded as one of the strongest currently in the women’s game. She can be effective at net, as her drive volley is one of the best in the women’s game. Her main weakness’ are considered to be her serve, lacking both power and stability on second serve, and her movemont due to a lack of sprinting power.. Her forehand can also sometimes break down and produce unforced errors, although this has improved over the years.
Tennis career: In 2005, Azarenka won the Australian Open and US Open as a junior and was named the ITF Junior Girls World Champion for that year, the first player from Belarus to do that. She also won her first ITF title in Pétange, Luxembourg in the same year. In Guangzhou, China, she reached her first pro-level semi-final, winning three qualifying rounds and defeating Martina Suchá and Shuai Peng in the main draw before losing to eventual champion Yan Zi.
2010: Azarenka began the season at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic exhibition. She was part of Team Europe along with Caroline Wozniacki and Stefan Edberg. In her first match she defeated Gisela Dulko 6–1. The match was played best of 1 set due to rain. She withdrew from her remaining matches due to illness. She was seeded 6th at the Medibank International. She won her first three matches, all 7–5 in the 3rd set. In the semifinals she fell to the 5th seed Elena Dementieva 6–3, 6–1.
At the Australian Open she was seeded 7th. In her first 3 matches she only lost 8 games, with a 6–0 set in each match. She continued this trend in the 4th round by defeating Vera Zvonareva 4–6, 6–4, 6–0, taking the last 10 games. This was her first victory over Zvonareva in 5 attempts. She lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinal 4–6, 7–6(4), 6–2 giving up a 4–0 lead in the second set. This was the third consecutive year she has lost to Williams at this tournament. Seeded 4th at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, on her way to the final, she defeated Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals and Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals. In the final she lost to defending champion Venus Williams 6–3, 7–5.
At the 2010 BNP Paribas Open, she was seeded 3rd, but was upset in the 3rd round by María José Martínez Sánchez 7–6(4), 6–2.
At the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, where she was the defending champion and 4th seed, she lost in 4th round to 14th seed, and eventual champion Kim Clijsters. This is the fourth match in the five tournaments this year that Azarenka lost to eventual champions.
At the Andalucia Tennis Experience, she was the number one seed. She had to retire in her quarterfinal match against María José Martínez Sánchez leading 4-0 due to a left thigh injury.
Seeded 3rd at the Family Circle Cup, she had to retire from her first match while leading 6-2, 2-2 against qualifier Christina McHale At the 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix she was upset in the 2nd round by qualifier Anna Lapushchenkova who was ranked no. 138 at the time.
At the 2010 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, as the 9th seed, Azarenka breezed through her opening matching, defeating Sesil Karatantcheva 6-1 6-4. In the following round, again struggling with injury limping at times during the match Azarenka lost to Ana Ivanović 6-4 6-4. As the 10th seed at the 2010 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open Azarenka retired from her first round match against Shuai Peng while trailing 0-3 with a groin injury.
At the 2010 French Open, coming back from injury, Azarenka was upset, in the first round, by unseeded Gisela Dulko 1-6, 2-6. This loss caused Azarenka to fall to World No. 15.
Azarenka is unseeded at the 2010 AEGON International. She defeated 4th seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the first round, Heather Watson in the second round, and Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals and 8th seed Marion Bartoli in the semifinals. Struggling with injuries, Azarenka fell to qualifier Ekaterina Makarova in the final.
Azarenka was seeded 14th at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. She defeated Mirjana Lučić in the first round and Bojana Jovanovski in the second round 6-1 6-4, before falling to Petra Kvitova in the third round, having served for the first set at 5-4 Azarenka lost 9 consecutive games losing 7-5 6-0.
To begin the summer hardcourt season, Azarenka competed in the 2010 Bank of the West Classic, as a wildcard and eight seed. Azarenka defeated Ayumi Morita 6-0 6-2, and Melanie Oudin 6-3 6-1, in the first and secound rounds. In the quarterfinals she defeated defending champion Marion Bartoli 3-6 6-3 6-3 and faces top seed Sam Stosur in the semifinals. She defeated Stosur 6-2 6-3 to advance to the final where she defeated Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-1. The win propels Azarenka to World No. 12. Despite being the favourite to win the Mercury Insurance Open Azarenka withdrew to recover from a right shoulder injury.
Victoria Azarenka – I N T E R V I E W
Victoria Azarenka
Tennis’ Fabulous Phenom
You might not know who Victoria Azarenka is yet, but if she has anything to say about it, you soon will. The 19 year old “Vika” from Belarus is looking to emerge in 2009. Victoria has already taken her place in the world’s top 10, and with the tennis looking for a new star, this summer could be her time to shine.
1. You’ve started out 2009 very strong, how would your rate your performances this year?
Yeah my performances this year been really good I think. Winning Brisbane was a really big step for me and I just started believing in myself that I could win the tournaments and the big matches. Beating Serena at the Sony Ericsson was the biggest win on my career, and I am just so happy that I finished that match.
2. What improvements to your game would you like to make in 2009?
Well there are always things to work on and improve in your game, and I want to keep working hard and improve my serve and just my game overall.
3. Tennis brings you to so many places across the world, do you have a favorite?
Yeah I love going to Australia, it is one of my favorite places to travel to.
4. What is the one tournament you would like to win the most?
Of course my goal is to win a Grand Slam, and my favorite ones are the US Open and Australian Open so I would really like to win one of these.
5. There are a lot of people who think you could become the next great tennis champion how are you handling you’re rise to fame and pressure.
You know, right now I’m just thinking about playing and the next match. If I’m going to get too excited, I won’t be able to play.
6. How do you celebrate winning a tournament?
Well after winning in Miami the Tour made a reservation for me, my coach and trainer, mom and friends and we all went to Nobu and celebrated. I usually do something fun after winning a big tournament.
7. Since so many young men are becoming fans of yours. I feel obliged to ask; what would your ideal date consist of?
Haha, yeah I like to go out to nice restaurants and have dinner, and then afterwards go out somewhere in the city I am in and do something fun or go somewhere that plays good music.
8. Outside of tennis, is there something you enjoy doing, or do you have any hobbies?
Yeah I love shopping, I am just crazy about it. I love buying Gucci clothes and Diro shoes, and every city I go to I usually do some shopping there. Also, something most people don’t know about me is that I really like cars a lot and driving fast. I want to get a new Mercedes.
9. Looking ahead to what is your goal and expectations for the year?
Well I really want to win a Grand Slam. That’s the whole reason I’m playing, you know. I think everybody’s goal is to try to be #1. I’m not going to say, yeah, I’m going to be there, but I’ll try to do my best.