Victoria Azarenka joins Li Na, Vera Zvonareva and Petra Kvitova on the sidelines – Tennis News
World Number one, Victoria Azarenka, has unwillingly retired from the Dubai Duty Free Championships tournament due to a left ankle injury. She was allotted a Bye for the first round but the time was not good enough to help her recover from the injury.
She was slightly suffering from the ailment since the start of the season. It grew more with the passage of time and by the end of the Qatar Total Open, it started hurting her a lot. She waited until the last moment to decide about her retirement. Her replacement
was chosen to be the Aussie starlet, Casey Dellacqua, who lost to the German beauty queen, Julia Goerges, in the second round on Wednesday.
Stating her distress on retiring from the premier contest of Women Tennis Association (WTA), the Belarusian said, "It's very disappointing, but it's life, it's sport. I just have to take care of it and that's it. Last week I hurt it in the semi-finals, and
I tried to do everything to be able to play in the final. I took a lot of sacrifice by taking a lot of painkillers, but it didn't get better. I had to adjust my movement and compromise in other parts of my body, which started to hurt, and it's just too much
of a risk."
It is a very dismal time period for woman tennis fanatics because four big guns have already pulled out of the competition including the likes of Li Na, Vera Zvonareva and Petra Kvitova and now Azarenka. Li is suffering from a chronic back injury. Whilst
the Australian Open doubles champion, Zvonareva, has a hip problem. Kvitova is unwell to take part in the game. All these players are world class acts and seeing them out of action is no less than a pain for a true tennis fan.
Azarenka further added, “I definitely need time to take my mind off tennis. I have not been home since forever." The number of big guns already out of action makes it easier for the former World Number one, Caroline Wozniacki, to defend her title. She has
opened her account with a thumping triumph against Simona Halep but up next for her is the Serb diva, Ana Ivanovic, who is fuming with confidence and playing the best tennis of her career. It will be a monumental task to defeat her in such an emphatic run
of form.
The tournament continues until February 25 and features majestic prize money of $2,000,000.
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