Background and career
Victoria Fiodaraŭna Azarenka (born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian inactive tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in singles by the WTA and held the position for a total of 51 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in 2012. Azarenka has won 21 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including two majors at the 2012 and 2013 Australian Opens, becoming the first Belarusian to win a major singles title. Azarenka is also a three-time finalist at the US Open, finishing runner-up to Serena Williams in both 2012 and 2013 and to Naomi Osaka in 2020. In singles, she has won six Premier Mandatory tournaments (including the Sunshine Double in 2016), four Premier 5 tournaments, and the singles bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. She was runner-up at the 2011 WTA Finals to Petra Kvitová. She finished with a year-end top 10 singles ranking from 2009 to 2013. Azarenka has won ten doubles titles on WTA Tour (including one WTA 1000, two Premier Mandatory, and two Premier 5 titles), reached four major finals in women's doubles, and reached a career-high ranking of No. 7 on 7 July 2008. She has won three mixed doubles titles — two major titles at the 2007 US Open with compatriot Max Mirnyi and the 2008 French Open with Bob Bryan, and the Olympic gold medal in mixed doubles at the 2012 London Olympics with Mirnyi.
Azarenka was born in Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union to Alla and Fedor Azarenka. Her tennis idol is German former player Steffi Graf. In an interview, Azarenka said "Graf's Calendar Golden Slam in 1988 is my biggest motivation."
Azarenka debuted on the ITF Junior Circuit in November 2003 in Israel, winning one doubles title with countrywoman Olga Govortsova. At Wimbledon, Azarenka reached the semifinals of the girls' competition, only to be defeated by eventual runner-up Ana Ivanovic, despite having two match points in the marathon third set. She continued to participate in ITF tournaments in 2004, and at the end of the season she had a singles rank of 508 on the WTA Tour. At age 15, Azarenka moved full-time to Scottsdale, Arizona, United States, from Minsk, Belarus, to train and live. In this she was aided by National Hockey League goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and his wife, who was a friend of Azarenka's mother. Azarenka had a successful year in 2005, winning two junior Grand Slams: the Australian (she would eventually win the seniors' competition in 2012 and 2013) and US championships. She ended the season as the junior world No. 1 and was named the 2005 World Champion by the ITF, becoming the first Belarusian to do so. In addition, she reached her first semifinal on the main tour in Guangzhou, China. She went from the qualifying draw of the tournament to the main draw, where she defeated Martina Suchá and Peng Shuai, before losing to the eventual champion Yan Zi. Junior Slam results:
Australian Open: W (2005) French Open: – Wimbledon: SF (2004, 2005) US Open: W (2005)
In February 2006 in Memphis, Azarenka defeated her first top-20 player, Nicole Vaidišová, and defeated her second top-30 player in Jelena Janković at Miami that same year. On clay, Azarenka pushed 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina to a third set in Rome, and took clay-court specialist Anabel Medina Garrigues to 9–7 in the third set in the first round at Roland Garros. At the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, Azarenka lost in the first round to 2005 Wimbledon and 2006 French Open junior champion and wildcard Agnieszka Radwańska. At the 2006 US Open, she recorded her first win over Myskina in the first round, and lost to Anna Chakvetadze in the third round, her best result in a Grand Slam event to that date. In her next tournament, Azarenka reached her second pro-level semifinal in Tashkent, losing to Sun Tiantian. She finished the year reaching the final of an ITF event in Pittsburgh, losing to Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak.
Ranked world No. 96, Azarenka began the year by playing two tournaments in Australia. She lost in the second round of qualifying at the Hobart International. At the Australian Open, Azarenka reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament in singles for the second consecutive time, but lost to world No. 11, Jelena Janković, in straight sets. She was upset in the first round of the French Open by Karin Knapp of Italy, and at Wimbledon, she lost in the third round to 14th-seeded Nicole Vaidišová. At the US Open, Azarenka upset former world No. 1, Martina Hingis, in the third round before 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova beat her in the fourth round. In mixed doubles, Azarenka and countryman Max Mirnyi won the title, defeating Meghann Shaughnessy and Leander Paes. She ended her year at the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, where she defeated world No. 4, Maria Sharapova, in the second round, in their first meeting. She then lost to the eventual winner of the tournament, world No. 14 Elena Dementieva, in the quarterfinal. At the same tournament, Azarenka and her doubles partner Tatiana Poutchek, also of Belarus, lost in the final to the world No. 3 team of Liezel Huber and Cara Black, in three sets. Azarenka's results at the Kremlin Cup elevated her rankings to career highs of world No. 27 in singles and world No. 29 in doubles.
