Victoria Azarenka withdraws from the Internazionali BNL d'Italia with an injury – Tennis News
World number one, Victoria Azarenka, pulled out of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, in Rome, with a right shoulder injury. She gusted away the Israeli tennis star, Shahar Peer; in the second round winning the match in straight
sets 6-1, 6-2 but soon the official Women Tennis Association officials released the statement that their top seed has opted to withdraw from the remaining part of the tournament.
It is a massive let down for the fans, tournament officials and more importantly to Azarenka herself who will not have enough practice on the clay court just before the start of the Roland Garros French Open. It is the second time;
she has faced this issue in a month’s time. She lost the final in Stuttgart, Germany from the Russian number one, Maria Sharapova, but stated in a post-match interview that she was not fully fit and suffered a lot from the shoulder pain that also restricted
her shot making.
The Belarusian tennis ace has just 10 days left to recover from the injury and also get ready for another shot at the Grand Slam title especially after registering a world class season so far; record of 35-3. She bagged four successive
titles at the start of the new season that included her maiden Grand Slam title in the Australian Open. She was the strongest contender to strip the Chinese number one, Li Na, from her French Open title this year but her recent performance has been a major
let down for her fans.
Only players that have successfully defeated the Belarusian this year includes the French number one, Marion Bartoli, the second ranked Russian, Maria Sharapova, and the former world number one, Serena Williams. Sharapova is closing
on to the number one spot and requires just one major triumph apart from Rome to reclaim her throne so Azarenka is living on the edge and if she carries the shoulder injury into the French Open, she might lose her number one ranking to the Russian.
A lot of things are on stake. She can win the second Grand Slam tournament on the trot but on the other hand her poor performance can strip her of the number one rank. Former world number one, Amelie Mauresmo, is her acting coach
at the moment and she is providing her expert tips to the Belarusian for her preparation of the French Open. However, all those tips will go in vain if Azarenka doesn’t recover in time.
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