Of course, Casey Dellacqua, the former Australian professional, asked Leo on center court: Because Victoria Asarenka always likes to talk about her son, who this time cannot be with him on his mother’s work trip. The little one is six years old and has to go to school in the USA. As a salute to him, Azarenka wore a shirt from Paris Saint-Germain, Leo’s favorite soccer team. When she reported that he didn’t care if she played anywhere, there was laughter at Rod Laver Arena. “He just wants me to come home soon,” she said, adding that he just had to wait a few days. Oh, and her dog, that just occurred to her, it’s his birthday today; Azarenka was really in a good mood. She hasn’t been at the Australian Open for a long time, which had been the Asarenka Open for two years.
In 2012 and 2013, the now 33-year-old Belarusian, who lives on the west coast of the United States, received the trophy in Melbourne. After her first triumph, she even rose to number one in the world rankings. Asarenka’s early big moments come from a time when her closest rivals were Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska. They all stopped except Azarenka. And now that she has actually reached the semi-finals in Melbourne again with a 6:4, 6:1 win against world number three Jessica Pegula from the USA, it’s time to say: Vintage Azarenka is back! No, no, she said indignantly at the press conference, “think of a new word,” she explained in a cool whisper, “I heard that ten years ago.”
What she can’t deny is the fact that the years have passed, even though she doesn’t look much older. Whereby: Her eyes could not be seen at the press conference, she wore mirrored glasses again. She had once remarked that the bright lights aimed at the speakers in these rooms blinded her.
“We are normal human beings going through many, many things.”
As easy as her tennis may sometimes look with the recurring left-right combinations, Asarenka has never been a kind of off-the-shelf professional in the verbal work-up after her matches: she was sometimes moody, also snappy, much more often witty, profound, opinionated . She still is. If she doesn’t like a question or a word like “vintage,” she says no.
She can be just as passionate about a topic if she feels genuine interest in her person. When she was asked to talk about fear and coping with fear, because she touched on that briefly during the on-pitch interview, she did so at length.
“For me – probably for everyone, but especially for me – a tennis court triggers a lot of these fears,” she admitted. “Whenever a moment of high stress comes, strange emotions come to the pitch.” Sometimes she thinks, “What the hell am I thinking here on the pitch?” Tennis pros, that’s their lot, are particularly at the mercy of their loneliness, so the fear of failing is great, Asarenka described; it is all the more important not to “run away” from these fears. She meant that figuratively, but literally she had already fled. At the Miami Open last year, she shook hands with Czech Linda Fruhvirtova in the middle of the match, and she was gone. She later explained that she felt lost and regretted her departure.
In Melbourne, at the moment of her return to the round of four, where she meets Kazakh Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina (6-2, 6-4 against Latvian Jelena Ostapenko), she also mentioned having sometimes had panic attacks. She emphasized that tennis players are often prematurely labeled and judged from the outside, only they are not villains and not heroes either: “We are normal human beings who go through many, many things.” In her case, that is particularly true. She was dealing with a protracted custody battle with her child’s father. Unable to leave California after the birth of Leo, she twice missed the Australian Open and many other tournaments. She was also unsure if she would continue, she had indicated that elsewhere.
One can only imagine how special these days in Melbourne may be for Azarenka, because as difficult as the topic discussed was, she presented it so easily. “I’m at peace with myself,” she said. She doesn’t care about criticism.
Ten years ago there was an episode that kept her busy
This new attitude, marked by life, is clearly the reason for their current success. Because it affects their performance on the court. Asarenka said she learned one thing: “I accept everything I’m going through.” There is no more anger or “whatever emotions”, so there is no fear either. “I’m enjoying this process,” she said, admitting that she hadn’t understood a lot before. The fact that she now understands things gives her a feeling of “gratitude and appreciation”.
She has also made up with herself. She explained this with the example of an event that had been painful for her for a long time. In 2013, Azarenka played in the semifinals against the American Sloane Stephens and took a medical break in a critical phase of the game, she was gone ten minutes. She still won, but came under heavy criticism. “It took me ten years to get over it,” she admitted.
There is this fantastic film “Being John Malkovich” in which a puppeteer enters the head of the well-known US actor Malkovich through a door. Well, on this January 24th in Melbourne, while outside the weather had been crazy all day and it alternately rained, the sun shone until a beautiful rainbow appeared, the journalists were immersed in the head of Victoria Asarenka. She was visibly happy.
In fact, there was still talk about sport at the end, exactly one question. Ah yes, Rybakina, semifinals. “She plays powerfully. Powerful serve,” said Asarenka, looking forward to the challenge. She, the critical one, didn’t look the least bit irritated that there were no further questions. Perhaps she also sensed that this press conference was about the people and less about the competitive athletes.
