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By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, August 29, 2020

 
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"It's pretty significant. It's my first title as a mom,” Victoria Azarenka said.

Photo credit: @CincyTennis Western & Southern Open.

Working mom Victoria Azarenka is a master multi-tasker often scheduling two practices per day.

Her own practice and son Leo’s hitting sessions.

More: Osaka Withraws from W&S Open Final with Hamstring Injury

Today, the 31-year-old Azarenka didn’t need to strike a shot to hit the target capturing her 21st career championship at the Western & Southern Open.

Azarenka took a walkover to the title when fourth-seeded Naomi Osaka was forced to withdraw from today’s scheduled 11 a.m. final with a left hamstring injury.



It is Azarenka’s first title since 2016 when she completed the Sunshine Double winning Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back joining Hall of Famers Steffi Graf and Kim Clijsters as the third woman to complete the feat.

The 59th-ranked Azarenka is the lowest-ranked W&S Open champion in history flying high past 15th-seeded Donna Vekic, Caroline Garcia, Alize Cornet, Ons Jabeur and ninth-seeded Johanna Konta earning her first championship since the birth of Leo in December of 2016.

“It's pretty significant. It's my first title as a mom,” Azarenka said. “I haven't even thought about it. So that makes it special. That part is special for me.

“Winning the title is obviously, I work hard to win matches, but I'm so much enjoying the process of playing and the battling that winning is like, I guess, the bonus, you know, and winning a tournament is a bonus. I enjoy playing. Like, I had so much fun practicing today that I kind of want to go out and play more. It's just a different feeling for me, being on the court right now.”

It is Azarenka's second W&S title following her 2013 championship and her 20th career hard-court crown, which is third-most among active women behind only Serena Williams (47) and Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters (31 apiece).

While injury prevented a marquee final between one of the sport’s most explosive servers in Osaka and one of its most exceptional returners in Azarenka, the result propels Azarenka back to the Top 30 at world No. 27.

And her performance reinforces Azarenka’s assets heading into her 13th US Open final: fitness, fierceness and clean and accurate ball-striking. Azarenka may not hit the ball as hard as younger power-based baseliners like Osaka, Karolina Pliskova, Garbine Muguruza or Konta, when she sets her feet and gets her body behind the ball her control is still impeccable on hard courts.

Tennis Express

“I think it's unfortunate, because I was actually really looking forward to compete against Naomi,” Azarenka said. “It would have been an amazing opportunity to face her level, and she's been playing really great. I lost to her last time that we played, so I was really looking forward to that.

“And playing the final is always really special, so, you know, I just take it the way it is. I can't change anything. I just have to accept what it is. I would have loved to have played, but, you know, I played five really good matches this week, and I think I deserve to be where I am today.”

If the two-time Grand Slam champion is playing like a woman recharged by career rebirth that’s because she seriously contemplated calling it quits in January and joining colleagues Caroline Wozniacki and Maria Sharapova in hanging up her racquet.

"In January, I didn't know if I was going to play at all," Azarenka revealed. "So end of January, I decided, You know what? I might try, last time, and see what happens. Yeah."

That decision has paid major dividends and reinforces the resilience the former world No. 1 has displayed in the face of heavy battles on multiple fronts.

Azarenka has spent time since her son’s birth in custody battle with her son Leo’s father, Billy McKeague, over travel restrictions. Additionally, her home country of Belarus has been undergoing major political turmoil with some protestors taking it to the streets disputing a re-election victory for Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.

Azarenka, who won the Olympic mixed doubles gold medal for Belarus partnering Max Mirnyi at the 2012 London Games, has confronted heartbreaking emotional issues keeping her head down and her focus on the task at hand.

“Honestly that's breaking my heart to see what's happening, because not being able to be there and understand the whole situation, you know, it's really sad,” Azarenka said of the political unrest in her homeland. “It's really sad, and it's really difficult to speak on that.

"But I just hope that all the violence stops immediately, really does, because it's really heartbreaking. “I can't even speak without tears in my eyes when I think about it, to be honest.”



On a dreary, drizzly Saturday morning in New York, Azarenka was beaming reclaiming her rightful place as a champion and Top 30 player.

There won’t be much time to celebrate inside the US Open bubble.

Azarenka, who has faced some brutal draws this season including squaring off against Venus Williams in her Lexington opener earlier this month, will play Barbara Haas in the US Open first-round. Should she advance, Azarenka could face Belarusian rival and No. 5-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in round two in what could be a high-octane grudge match.

The two-time US Open finalist can make magic in Flushing Meadows. But Azarenka says success is not about flash points it’s about her daily devotion: mastering and executing every part of her game correctly and with care.

“There is no magic,” Azarenka said. “When you do a lot of little things and they finally come together, sometimes you're waiting for them, you work hard and it doesn't go. But if you stick to and believe that what you're doing is right, you have trust in that, I think the things come together…

“I feel like consistency of little things on a daily basis, that's what makes it what's my progress.”

 

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