• Home
• /
• Tennis

I love and embrace it, says Azarenka about pressure

Pressure is merely a matter of perspective for Victoria Azarenka, who can recall days when she was worried as much about going hungry as she was about her next match.
The two-time Australian Open champion is emerging as a favourite for the title, growing in confidence following two injury-interrupted seasons as she tallies victories and while leading contenders are making early-round exits to open up the draw.
Azarenka dropped her opening service game without winning a point on Saturday, but recovered quickly to beat Japanese qualifier Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-1 in 56 minutes. Asked about the apparent change in her fortunes and her frame of mind, and to contrast it with the pressure on other leading rivals, Azarenka opened up about what it has taken to develop from being a promising child player in Belarus to a contender for Grand Slam titles.
First of all, merely getting an opportunity came only from beating everyone else. "If you're not the best, you don't get sponsored at all," she said, delving back into her past. "So that was pretty rough."
She remembered one day, on the junior circuit, which "still affects me every time."
During a nine-week stint, sometimes playing two matches a day, she said, if she missed the scheduled times when food was provided, she went hungry.
"I had no money. I didn't get to eat," she said. "So that was pressure, you know, to survive. That was survival, really. So, pressure right now is go out there and face a big opponent? OK, but when you're like hungry and you've got to go play and you have absolutely nothing, that's big pressure."
At another point during Azarenka's unusually long and self-analytical news conference, she talked about how all players react differently to pressure. For her, it's a motivating force.
"I love it. I embrace it," Azarenka said. "Pressure for me, I think it's part of where I came from. I always had pressure."