PRAGUE, Czech Republic - She was on top of the junior world in 2005 and finished in the Top 100 in her first full season on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in 2006. She has been continuing that meteoric rise so far in 2007, beginning with impressive third round runs at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami, and last week making her first final at Estoril; she is now on the verge of the Top 50. 17-year-old Victoria Azarenka is one of the brightest young stars in women's tennis, and is now the latest player to join the blogging ranks, writing to us from Prague this week.
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Saturday, May 12, 2007
Hello one last time from Prague!
Well, I'm sad to say that I strained my right hip during my semifinal match today and had to retire. I'm very disappointed but these things happen to everybody. In the first set she played really great; I was making a lot of unforced errors, and I just wasn't really in the match. She won it, 6-3. In the second set, I was able to pick it up and play much better, but when I was up 3-1 I injured my hip and it was just so difficult to move. The trainer came out at 3-2; I tried to keep going, just hitting every ball for a winner, and it worked well for a while, but after I went up 5-2 she started to change her game because she knew I couldn't move and I stopped at 5-4. She was starting to play really smart. I just couldn't continue.
The thing about straining your hip is that it can be a dangerous injury. It could take a long time to heal if it gets worse - like six to eight weeks - which isn't something I would be able to handle, especially with the French Open coming up. I had to pull out of Fès next week but like I said I need to let it heal right away. I'm going to go back to Belarus now and have it checked and treated and then I'll go to Portugal when it's better to train with my coach before the French.
Although the ending was tough, this has been a good week and I'm very happy. I was tired coming here straight from Estoril but I still managed to win a lot of matches this week back-to-back, against some good players like Sucha, Dechy and Cibulkova. And I am maybe most proud of how I was able to win even with the windy conditions. You can always take positives from any tournament!
I also really enjoyed keeping the blog. I'm definitely going to do something like this on my website when it's ready and hopefully again for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. By the way, you can read the Belarusian newspaper they translated this blog into at www.sportpanorama.by. My boyfriend pointed it out to me and I've gone and read it there too. I think they only did a few days but check it out!
I'm excited to go back home to see my parents and my boyfriend. He's playing a tournament this week - he's a tennis player too, it's a futures tournament, and I'm going to support him! He said that I never talk about him in the blog so here it is: I'm coming to support you in Minsk :)
I had a great time this week and hopefully you enjoyed reading along. I will talk to you all soon!!
Victoria
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Friday, May 11, 2007
Hello again!
The wind today was just unbelievable. It was crazy! I've never seen something like that. It was tough to play in those conditions, but I still managed to win my quarterfinal against Cibulkova. I tried to be calm the whole match and be smart, and I did pretty well. She freaked out a few times because of the weather, and I don't think she played her best. But in the end I am in the semifinals again and it feels really good. I've been playing and winning a lot of matches the last few weeks; I've never played so well before. I'm feeling really confident right now.
I'll take you through what I did today. I had a nice breakfast - croissants with strawberry jam and a hot cup of tea. Then I went back to the room and watched a bit of a Russian movie. Then I went to the courts at 1130am and hit with my coach; it was a really bad hit because of the wind! You can't really warm up that properly in those conditions. But we made the most of it and then we grabbed lunch - I had pasta with chicken and sauce - but the matches were going so fast that it was time for me to play soon after that. Once I was done my match, I went on the bike for 10 minutes or so then talked to my coach for a while. He was pretty happy with everything I did! I talked to my boyfriend and some friends after that and then went on the internet for a bit. For dinner I picked up a pizza on the way back and had that in my room here. It's not my favorite - my mom's cooking is my favorite - but it's fine for now. And that brings me to writing this!
I've been asked this week about my junior career, and how it compares to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, and all I can say is that it's different. You don't have as many nerves in the juniors; it's easier to play mentally, because the girls aren't as mentally tough during the matches, and it's easier to break them down a little bit. Sometimes they get frustrated and give up. But in the pros, you always have to be at your best, point by point. It's much tougher physically and mentally and it's just different. Of course, your junior titles are your first big wins so you'll always remember them, but now the wins are much different.
My favorite player when I was a kid - my idol - was Steffi Graf. I actually met her once, at an exhibition. Actually, I played her! It was a doubles match; I was playing with Mike Bryan and she played with Andre Agassi. I was so nervous. There were so many people watching. I was even more nervous warming up across from Agassi. I framed every other ball because my hands were shaking so much! For the first four games I had no idea what I was doing. I was okay after that, but we lost, 6-4. It was in Boise in 2005. It was one of my best memories, just unbelievable. I almost cried when I saw Graf and Agassi come out.
Right now, Roger Federer is my favorite player. He just lost yesterday in Rome to Filippo Volandri; but Volandri is playing amazing this week. He just beat Berdych today, too. I was more disappointed when Federer lost at Indian Wells and Miami though. Obviously, clay courts are not his favorite. I don't really follow other tournaments too closely but it's hard not to hear about Federer, he is in every headline almost! Like Federer, clay isn't my favorite surface, but so far this year I'm doing pretty well, so I'm happy. It's a little surprising!
I'm excited to say that back in Belarus they're translating my blog and publishing it in one of the national newspapers. I'm getting nice feedback about it. I hope you're all enjoying it too. My website should be ready by the end of the month and I'm thinking I will have something like this there. They just need to get the Web address; someone already bought the name we want but they haven't done anything with it, so hopefully we can get it soon!
Tomorrow I play Morigami in the semifinals. She's a very good player with lots of experience. I practiced with her early in the week, and she's playing well, winning her matches pretty easily. I'll just try to do my best, and hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow too.
I'll talk to you all afterwards...
Victoria
