Victoria Azarenka, the tennis player who declared her love to Lionel Messi, shone again in Australia

Victoria Azarenka reached number one on tennis in 2012. But soon after, she divorced her husband, Billy McKeague, and entered into a legal battle for custody of their son, which caused her extreme stress. That made her stop competing professionally and only in 2019 was she able to return to a final in Monterrey.

Also read: Victoria Azarenka announced that she is temporarily retiring from tennis due to “extreme stress”

Over time, she felt safe again and with a superlative level. Today, at the age of 33, she is ranked twenty-fourth in the ranking, the player born in Minsk will play the semifinals of the Australian Open again, primer Grand Slam of the calendar after ten years.

She defeated one of the top seeds, the American Jessica Pegula (3rd), 6-4, 6-1, in what was her first victory against a Top 5 in a major since the 2012 US Open semifinals (vs. Sharapova).

And, now, she will play for a place in the final this Saturday against the current Wimbledon champion, the Kazakh Elena Rybakina (25th).

Victoria Azarenka: admirer of Lionel Messi for more than a decade

“Messi I love you forever”wrote the tennis player on her Twitter account on December 18, after the World Cup title of the Argentine National Team in Qatar 2022. She even dedicated messages to the goalkeeper Dibu Martínez (“Martínez you are a boss”). During this Australian Open, he enters the matches with the Paris Saint-Germain jersey, a team that has the same clothing sponsor as the French club where Messi plays.

Emotion: Azarenka won and went to the conference with her son, for whom she fought a tough legal battle

The Belarusian tennis player Victoria Azarenka He starred in the most emotional moment so far at the Australian Open when after beating Elina Svitolina in the second round he went to the press conference with Leo, his son, for whose custody he fought a tough legal battle with the boy’s father.

Leo was born on December 19, 2016 and the following year the tennis player separated from Billy McKeague, from which he starred in a moving fight for the custody of the minor. The litigation kept whoever was No. 1 in the world for 51 weeks, between 2012 and 2013, out of tennis for a year.

Also read: Tennis mothers, the particular story of a US Open that marks an era

It is that while the judicial process was carried out, a judge determined that the child could not leave California, for which the tennis player remained in that North American state and canceled her career at that time, which forced her to travel to meet the commitments of the WTA calendar.

“It’s not just being a mom. Life doesn’t stop, in fact my life started when I became a mother.” she knew how to say when they asked her how she did to complement her professional career with the role of mother.

In this same scenario, he commented: “I hope that for my son the fact that I still continue doing what I like and that I work hard for it is inspiring. I want to be an example for my son and I’m sure other moms share that same sentiment too.”

Today Azarenka, 33 years old, walk hand in hand with your child wherever you go and together they took all the flashes in Australia.