Victoria Azarenka

Victoria Azarenka at Australian Open (2012)

Birth Date: 1989

Turned pro: 2003

Joined the Belarus national tennis team in 2005

Victoria Azarenka is Belarus' representative in the world's women tennis elite.

Victoria Azarenka entered the Top 10 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings in March 2009. Two years later, in March 2011, she became the 3rd in the world rankings.

Victoria Azarenka is the first Belarusian tennis player ever to reach № 1. Victoria Azarenka secured her maiden Grand Slam title at Australian Open in January, 2012.

She is the second woman from Belarus ever to be ranked that high, following Natasha Zvereva who was ranked World Number 5 in the late 1980s.

Career Highlights:

26th in the WTA rankings (as of 4 April 2024).

The best WTA singles ranking – Number 1 (as of 2012, 30 January. Victoria Azarenka topped the WTA ratings on 30 January 2012 and held the title for 52 weeks.)

In 2005 Azarenka won the Australian Open Junior Championships and US Open Junior Tennis Chmapionships, and was subsequently named ITF Junior Girl’s World Champion of the Year, the title never before earned by a player from Belarus.

The winner of the two Grand Slam mixed doubles: 2007 US Open (teaming up with Max Mirnyi); 2008 French Open (with Bob Bryan).

Mixed doubles gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics (teaming up with Max Mirnyi)

Singles bronze at the 2012 London Olympics

The winner of 26 singles WTA titles in Brisbane, Miami and Memphis (2009); Moscow and Stanford (2010); Miami, Marbella and Luxemburg (2011); Sydney, Melbourne (Australian Open), Doha, Indian Wells, Beijing, Linz (2012); Melbourne (Australian Open), Doha, Cincinnati (2013), Brisbane, Indian Wells, Miami (2016).

Victoria Azarenka was awarded the Order of the Motherland Third Class in recognition of her high professional skills, outstanding sports achievements and for winning the Australian Open in Melbourne (28 January 2012).

Victoria Azarenka received the Order of Honor for her high sports achievements at the 30th Summer Olympics in London in 2012 and a big personal contribution to the development of physical education and sports.

Azarenka’s biggest victories:

• over Martina Hingis at the  US Open (2007)
• over Nadezhda Petrova in Luxembourg (2007)
• over Maria Sharapova at the Kremlin Cup (2007)
• over Dinara Safina in Indian Wells (2009)
• over Serena Williams in Miami (2009)
• over Maria Sharapova in Stanford (2010)
• over Maria Kirilenko at the Kremlin Cup (2010)
• over Maria Sharapova at Australian Open (2012)
• over Maria Sharapova at China Open (2012)
• over Li Na at Australian Open (2013)
• over Serena Williams at Doha Open (2013)
• over Serena Williams at Cincinnati Open (2013)
• over Serena Williams at Indian Wells (2016)
• over Svetlana Kuznetsova at Miami Open (2016)

In 2009 Victoria Azarenka won a spot in the WTA Tour’s Sony Ericsson Championships. In 2010 and 2011 she also took part in these championships. In 2011 Petra Kvitova defeated Victoria in the Madrid Open final.

In 2012 Victoria Azarenka won six WTA Tournaments: Sydney, Melbourne (Australian Open), Doha, Indian Wells, Beijing, Linz.

World number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat World No.6 Li Na of China in the Melbourne final on 26 January 2013 to defend her Australian Open title and stay at the top of the WTA ratings.

In February 2013, the Belarusian defended the title at the Qatar Total Open after overpowering her arch rival Serena Williams, which was Victoria Azarenka's first victory over the American since 2009.

Later Victoria Azarenka’s season was marred by injuries which forced her to withdraw from several tournaments, including Wimbledon.

Victoria Azarenka successfully returned to the court at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati where she again managed to oust Serena Williams in the final. Victoria Azarenka later reached the U.S. Open final for a second consecutive year but again failed to lift the trophy after being beaten, as in 2012, by the younger of the Williams sisters.

In 2014 Victoria Azarenka did not win any WTA trophies due to the injuries that blighted the year for the Belarusian tennis player. It was only at the start of the 2014 season when Victoria Azarenka reached the final of the Brisbane International where she lost to Serena Williams. The Belarusian had to call it a season in September to focus on her health issues.

The next, 2015, season Azarenka started on a good note beating WTA top-20 players at the Australian Open and the Doha Open. The competition against leader of the WTA rankings Serena Williams was dramatic for the Belarusian that year. Victoria Azarenka lost to the U.S. player at the Madrid Open after losing three (!) match points. The two best players of Belarus and the United States met later at the French Open for Williams to celebrate a win.

Victoria Azarenka opened the 2016 season with a Brisbane International title. In the final she beat Angelique Kerber from Germany. It was the first title for Victoria Azarenka since 2013, and the 18th in her career. The Belarusian raised two more trophies. At the Indian Wells she beat Serena Williams. In the Miami Open final the Belarusian proved too strong for Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.

In mid April 2016 Victoria Azarenka helped the Belarusian national team to beat Russia in the Fed Cup, which took Belarus into the world’s top eight for the first time.

Victoria Azarenka rose to the fifth place in the WTA rankings following a series of 26 victories in winter-spring 2016. Old injuries, however, hampered her to keep the pace.

Victoria Azarenka had to withdraw from the Rio Olympics due to pregnancy. In December 2016 Victoria Azarenka gave birth to her son Leo. 

In August-October 2017 Victoria Azarenka missed a number of tournaments (including the US Open).

In 2018, on her return to tennis, Victoria Azarenka, teamed up with Aryna Sabalenka to reach the Indian Wells second round. This year, the former world number one got the Miami Open 2018 wildcard.

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