Friday, December 11, 2009 10:12 am
The Thrill of Victoria
Three tour wins, success at the Grand Slams and a year-end top 10 ranking. Yeah, “Vika” Azarenka has most certainly arrived.
By Sebastian del Marmol; Photography by Dania Graibe
The most striking thing about tennis phenom Victoria Azarenka—besides her 5-foot-10-inch svelte physique, flowing blond mane, steely blue eyes and stratospheric ascent to the top of the women’s game—is her soft and easy tone. Ask how long after picking up a racquet at age 7 until she knew she was really good, and she defers.
“I never thought of it that way, I just always wanted to get better, no matter how good I was or wasn’t.” Maybe it’s her Eastern European humility shining through, but the last thing you might expect after chatting with her is that this 20-year-old has the world by those yellow things she smacks around.
And then you see Vika (as her friends affectionately call her) on the tennis court. It gets violent. Fast. Any sense of fragility or sensitivity is replaced by pure strength. Though she might be confused with members of the seemingly endless contingent of players from the former Soviet Union, Vika stands apart from the Russians.
For one thing, she is from Belarus. And Vika strikes the ball like it insulted her homeland, shrieking loud enough while doing so to make Monica Seles cover her ears. Her grace and youth belie a sense of ultimate confidence, especially when she says she is not intimidated by any of the top women on tour—most of whom she’s already beaten.
Talented and athletic, Vika has combined her physical gifts with mental toughness and fitness to solidify her position on the tour.
Vika reflects on her 2009 journey to the top 10 and discusses her goal of becoming a world No. 1 in the January/February 2010 issue of SOBeFiT Magazine.
