Neither hero nor villain — just human

Roaring again: Azarenka rolled back the years in Melbourne last month, entering the last four of the Australian Open and looking every inch the player who had won the tournament ten years ago.

Finding a way: Azarenka said changing her mindset and conquering her anxiety had helped her both on and off the court.

Four years ago — after losing in the first round of the Australian Open, the scene of her greatest triumphs — a despondent Victoria Azarenka vowed to fight her way out of a career-threatening slump and recapture the form that earned her two Grand Slam singles titles in Melbourne.

She wiped away tears as she contemplated the challenge, following several years disrupted by injury, a break for the birth of son Leo in 2016 and a messy custody battle.

“It’s not easy to be positive but I don’t have a choice,” said Azarenka, who was then ranked just outside the top 50, having sunk as low as No. 208 two years earlier, in 2017. 

She said she maintained a burning ambition to rejoin the game’s elite and believed hard work was the only way to get there. “[This result is] not going to stop me. No matter how much it hurts, I have to learn from it. I’ve never really learned how to struggle before, so it’s a lesson.”

The Belarusian has embraced the struggle, learning to make peace with her imperfections. And while she hasn’t tasted Grand Slam success again, the 33-year-old is in a far better place than she was during the dark days that followed her ascent to the top. 

Hitting a rut

After a prosperous run of 10 Major tournaments between 2011 and 2013 — she won two Grand Slam crowns, finished runner-up twice, made the semifinals on three other occasions and got to World No. 1 — Azarenka hit a rut, in terms of results. Troubled by a foot injury among other niggles and dealing with personal challenges off the court, she missed eight of the next 25 Major events and did not make it past the quarterfinals when she did compete. 

The tennis she produced at the 2020 US Open — she made a stirring run to the final — was the first indication that she was working things out. But it took two more seasons of mediocre results at the Slams before she rolled back the years in Melbourne last month, entering the last four.

Although she lost to Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, Azarenka beat 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, tenth seed Madison Keys and in-form third seed Jessica Pegula in a strong campaign. She looked every inch the player who had won back-to-back in 2012 and 2013, capable of both dominating a rally and counter-punching.

She also demonstrated her physical and mental resilience in a bruising late-night encounter against China’s Zhu Lin, which she described as “two hours and 40 minutes of complete pressure”.

Azarenka made significant ranking gains thanks to her performance, moving up eight places to 16th. She will be just as pleased with her consistency over a Grand Slam fortnight: it suggested that making the final in New York in 2020 wasn’t a one-off; her peak years may be behind her, but there is no reason why she can’t harbour dreams of tasting Major success again.

Azarenka said changing her mindset and conquering her anxiety had paved the way for her return to the semifinals of the Australian Open. 

“I was at the point where I couldn’t find anything I felt good about myself, not even one sentence,” she said. “From then, I tried to take it more simple. I started with not trying to be positive, just trying to be neutral, not to go negative. Accepting the anxiety that I have. Accepting the fear that I have. Working through it, step by step.”

A better understanding

Azarenka was asked if going through the process of dealing with her anxiety helped her understand her problems in 2013 when she had to fend off accusations of gamesmanship after her semifinal win over Sloane Stephens at Melbourne Park. The Belarusian had taken an almost-10 minute medical timeout after blowing five match-points and denied the charge following her win, saying she needed treatment for a rib injury that had affected her breathing.

“It was one of the worst things I’ve ever gone through in my professional career,” Azarenka said. “The way I was treated, the way I had to explain myself until 10:30 p.m. because people didn’t want to believe me. There’s sometimes an incredible desire for a villain and a hero story that has to be written. But we’re not villains, we’re not heroes, we’re regular human beings that go through so many things. It took me 10 years to get over it. I’m finally over that.”

Azarenka also spoke in Melbourne about how her professional and personal lives are connected. “I don’t think that one goes without the other. I feel like a tennis court — probably for everybody, but for me, especially — triggers a lot of those fears, a lot of anxiety. It’s kind of like an open canvas. At a high-pressure moment, weird emotions come on the court.”

The Belarusian said she now has a process to cope when the nerves rear up. But it still is a work in progress; the key, she said, was not to become a prisoner of her past.

“It’s really difficult to be brave and make the right choices in important moments when you feel anxious and hesitant,” Azarenka said after her quarterfinal win. “When you achieve great success, sometimes you become conservative and hesitant to try new things. I was like, ‘You know what, I’ll be open-minded, try new things, keep my head down and work.’”

Now 33 and a self-described “obnoxious soccer mom” bidding to become only the fourth woman to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open era after having children, Azarenka isn’t looking too far ahead. Her focus is on the present and her son Leo.

“Leo doesn’t really care so much that I’m playing,” she said. “He worries more about his football. He watches some matches, but he definitely wants his mom to be home. I’m towards the end of my career and I cannot say being focused on the result hasn’t worked for me. But it also played big tricks for me mentally after you haven’t achieved your expectations 

“[That is] kind of a hard hole to recover from. I’m taking baby steps and really working on my intentions and what I want to do. I just didn’t want to judge ‘Can I do it?’ or ‘Can I not do it?’ I just try to see what happens. That is a pretty big win for me.”