Victoria Azarenka in doubt for the start of US Open – Tennis News
Belarusian number one, Victoria Azarenka, faces fitness issues prior to start of the US Open, last of the four Grand Slam events taking place on hard courts in New York City. She suffered a knee injury at the Rogers Cup due to
the hectic schedule of women’s tennis.
Seeded top at the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Five event held in Montreal, Azarenka high-spiritedly entered the Stade Uniprix. The Belarusian was levelled at 3-3 in the first set of her opening match against Austria’s
Tamira Paszek. However, she endured a left knee injury and was forced to withdraw from this Emirates Airline US Open Series event.
Azarenka was coming off from the London Olympics, a major sports event taking place after every four years. She bowed out to the 14-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams, in the semis at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet
Club. However, the Belarusian trashed Russia’s Maria Kirilenko in straight sets to grab the bronze medal.
The gorgeous Belarusian told the reports in a press conference after retiring from the event:
"The last week took so much energy out of me that I had absolutely no time to recover, and my body is feeling it. It was a little bit too quick of a transition for me to come and start the training, and I felt my knee just wasn't
in good shape.”
The 23-year-old is looking forward to recover before the major hard court tournament starts. She has never reached past the fourth round at Flushing Meadows and is eyeing to better her record. Azarenka feels that taking rest may
help her recover quickly and stated:
"I hope it's a short-term thing. I have to just stop and take a little bit of time off because I had absolutely no rest for a long period of time. My first goal is to get healthy and make sure I'm 100% ready to play the U.S. Open."
Azarenka is bidding to capture her second Grand Slam title at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. She has claimed her maiden Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier this season and climbed to number one at the WTA
Premier Rankings after that.
Another casualty of the frenetic women’s tennis schedule was the former world number one, Maria Sharapova from Russia. She is suffering from a stomach virus and has withdrawn from the Rogers Cup and Cincinnati Premier event. The
Russian number one is also looking forward to get better before the US Open starts.
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