Victoria Azarenka

Sport: Tennis.

Date and place of birth:

31.07.1989, Minsk.

Career awards and titles:

Merited Master of Sports of the Republic of Belarus (2010).

“The Order of the Fatherland” 3^rd class (2012).

Order of Honor (2012).

Career highlights:

Olympics champion of the Games XXX Olympiad in London-2012 (mixed doubles).

Bronze medalist of the Games XXX Olympiad in London-2012 (singles).

Winner of Grand slam women’s singles champions (Australian Open, 2012, 2013) and mixed doubles (US Open, 2007 with Maxim Mirny and Roland Garros, 2008 with Bob Brian).

The winner of 20 WTA tournaments in the singles and 6 in the doubles (2009-2016).

The best result in the WTA ranking is the 1st position (2012).

Short biography:

Victoria was born on July 31, 1989 in the family of a driving instructor Fyodor Mikhailovich and a Methodist of the Republican Centre of Tennis Olympic Training Alla Valentinovna. At the age of seven she started playing tennis. Her first coach was Rzhanykh Valentina Egorovna.

At the age of 15 Victoria managed to get a job at the Marbella Tennis Academy in Spain. The famous former coach of Steffi Graf, Klaus Hofsaess, also trained Victoria. At the age of 16 with the assistance of the famous NHL goalkeeper Nikolai Khabibulin and his wife Victoria, she moved to Scottsdale (Arizona, USA). There, in the USA, Victoria worked with a Portuguese coach António van Grichen. Over the next 4 years of work and joint trainings they achieved a significant progress.

In 2005, Victoria became the first Belarusian athlete who was recognized as the world’s best young tennis player. In March 2009, Victoria Azarenka entered the top 10 tennis players of the world. In March 2011, she was ranked 3rd in the world ranking. In January 2012 Victoria Azarenka won the Australian Open and became the first Belarusian tennis player to win this tournament. Her debut victory in the Grand Slam series allowed her to take the 1st place in the WTA ranking.

Victoria won the bronze medal in singles at the London 2012 summer Olympics. Together with Maxim Mirny, Victoria won the first Olympic gold medal in Belarusian tennis history.

The following years were not very successful for Victoria due to her numerous injuries. At the beginning of the 2015 season, immediately after the defeat in the Australian Open, a Belgian specialist Wim Fissette became Victoria’s new coach. 2 years later, in April 2016, she won the Miami Open Tournament and returned to the top 5 of the WTA Rankings.

Victoria refused to participate in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro due to her. From August to October 2017, Victoria Azarenko missed a number of tournaments for family reasons and was awarded a wild card: a special invitation to participate in tournaments (including the US Open). In 2018, after a long break, she continued to participate in the competitions. Her first tournament after a break was The Indian Wells Masters.