Victoria Azarenka – Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Congrats, Vika.

VICTORIA AZARENKA: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Tell us a bit about your match today, how you were feeling out there today.

VICTORIA AZARENKA: Terrible. I think tennis-wise, I mean, it’s hard for me to describe it really. I feel that I guess my fighting spirit really helped me to pull through, kind of find the way to get a little bit of consistency, play better, find the rhythm, execute properly.

But, yeah, it was a bit rough out there (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. This is typically a time of year when you play very well. A bit of a challenge for you the start of the season. How has it been feeling on court? Has it been working well in practice, but not in matches?

VICTORIA AZARENKA: Nothing works in matches right now. I mean, today I found a way, as I said.

I’ve been really struggling to find just my game at all. Moving-wise it feels just like my legs become heavy. I feel like I’m not making right decisions, even though in practice I play good sets, play good matches against everybody here. I played Qinwen Zheng, Emma.

I know my game is there. For whatever reason, I’m just having a hard time executing in matches. It’s been quite frustrating.

Today at least it’s a good thing that I was able to kind of really compete. I would say that’s what saved me today in the match.

Q. The second set tiebreak, you had a couple of good forehand winners. How was your body responding? Due to the early exit in Doha, how has the progress on your forehand been?

VICTORIA AZARENKA: With my body or what?

Q. You had a couple of great forehands. How was it in the second set tiebreak?

VICTORIA AZARENKA: Honestly, I don’t remember. I don’t even remember what happened there. I just try to kind of stay point by point because I felt like if I tried to analyze more, which I think I overdone in the first set, beginning of the second set, I just overanalyzed my mistakes, that’s not helping me to try to execute.

Clearly I need to have a little bit more space in my head when I play because right now it’s too busy.

Q. You’re fresh off the court, still feeling all of these things. At the same time from the start of your career, you’ve been known for your fighting spirit. How do you find an extra gear to dig deep?

VICTORIA AZARENKA: I guess it’s part of my character. I told myself, Okay, tough moments happen. How you try to respond in those tough moments is I think what makes you a champion. I think that’s what made me who I am. That’s what made my career so far. At least I’m going to try something out there.

The first instinct is like, Screw that, I don’t want to play. I want to get out of here. I don’t want to be here.

Then I feel I was like, Okay, just try to do your best here.

I think because I’m such a perfectionist, my best has to be really best. Anything below that becomes kind of a harsh reality.

I’ve been trying to work on that, but it’s very difficult to kind of be less self-judgmental. I think I struggled this my whole career really. I’m hoping to slowly, like, kind of peel that onion a little bit more.

But a lot of people ask me all the time, Do you still enjoy it?

I think I have hard time to actually enjoy playing because it’s always been, like, not a job, but I need to have a goal. I don’t think even after my career, if somebody asked me, Let’s just go for a hit, I’ll be like, No, I’m sorry.

I have to go on court with a goal in mind, with an objective in mind. That’s how it is. When people say, Just go out there, just have fun. I’m like, Fuck, it’s so hard. I don’t know how to do that really.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy playing tennis, that’s not it. It’s very hard to have that more of like laid-back attitude. I think some players are able to do that, some people are able to do that. For me, it’s a big struggle really.

Q. How were you feeling in the pre-season? Speaking of goals, were you struggling to come up with one? Is that something you typically coming into a year try to develop some goals that you keep for yourself?

VICTORIA AZARENKA: My goals are pretty clear. But I felt really good in the pre-season. I worked really, really hard. I played well. It’s just sometimes it’s a matter of putting everything together that will just click. I mean, hopefully at some point… I don’t know.

I know I can do things well. I know I can compete against anybody. I think it’s just a matter of, yeah, probably drop a little bit that self-judgmental when it doesn’t always turned out like I wanted, then kind of not giving myself opportunity to maybe try again.

I think it’s been a struggle the last month, since Australia clearly, in matches. We’ll see. I’m going to try to find a way to fight. I’m always going to fight. We’ll see.

Q. You’re known for your mental toughness when you’re playing. There’s a bit of talk at the moment, especially in Dubai, talking about mental wellness. How do you find that balance of being strong, determined, fighting, but still having that internal piece?

VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend professional sports for mental wellness definitely (smiling). I’m not sure that’s where you go. I think you go to, like, padel or something like that for mental wellness, not professional sports (laughter).

I think what’s important is to be able to kind of find the balance of the outside, your outside environment, which is not easy. I think for me it’s been tough to travel. It’s not even to compete, it’s to be able to travel, to change places from one to another. It’s pretty rigorous schedule.

I think throughout my career, I’ve always found something else that I’m interested in. I felt that I’ve really opened up myself to a lot of different things and opportunities, like doing art, doing horse riding, doing music, doing this, doing that. I think those outlets help me to continue my career.

I’ve been playing for 20 years professionally now. In one way it feels like it’s been very quick. In the same time like, God, it’s been so long. Why am I still doing that (smiling)?

I think, yeah, if you are able to kind of find outlets. Being a professional athlete, the career is not that long. If you can develop yourself as a person, kind of broaden your horizon in things, I think that would be very helpful.

I’m surprised I didn’t have any other questions non-tennis related. Everybody else gets asked and I don’t get asked. I mean, I have opinions (smiling).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports