Victoria Azarenka bursts into tears in heartbreaking Aus Open interview

Victoria Azarenka has broken down in tears at the Australian Open while reflecting on her recent off-court battles.

Azarenka struggled to hold back the tears during her 10-minute press conference on Tuesday, until the dam walls finally burst towards the end.

Following her first-round loss to Laura Siegemund, Azarenka discussed the “struggle” she is facing as she attempts to regain top form.

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The women’s champion at Melbourne Park in 2012 and 2013, Azarenka has missed a significant chunk of the past three seasons due to injuries, the birth of her first child and a subsequent custody battle.

After losing in three sets to Siegemund, the former World No.1 cut a disconsolate figure as she addressed the media and reflected on a “s****y beginning of the season”.

When a reporter then asked Azarenka about the resilience she has shown in dealing with a number of challenges in recent years, the 29-year-old burst into tears.

A tournament official gave the Belarussian the option of stopping the news conference, and a member of her management team attempted to shut it down.

But Azarenka, excusing herself first, and taking deep breaths, insisted on answering the question.

“I’ve been through a lot of things in my life and sometimes I wonder why I go through them, but I think they’re going to make me stronger,” she said.

“I want to believe that and I’m gonna work hard for it. Sometimes I just feel I need a little time and patience and a little support.”

Her son Leo was born in December 2016, in a period in which 2017 Wimbledon was the only grand slam tournament she entered in two years between the French Opens in 2016 and last year.

She had to skip some tournaments while working out a custody dispute with the father of her son. And she has spoken about the challenges of being a travelling, working mum.

She’s dealing with that, and with trying to find a way to convert the form she believes she has found in practice into matches.

Her first-round loss at the last French Open was followed by a second-round exit at Wimbledon and a third-round appearance at the US Open, moving her ranking back into the 50s. But the trajectory didn’t keep going up.

“It’s not easy to just, out of nowhere, start playing well,” she said.

“I guess I need to continue to work hard and try to find solutions, but I’m struggling right now to do that.”

‘It was a nightmare’

It feels like such a long time ago to her that she can barely remember what life was like at the top, although she concedes it wasn’t always great.

There were people who didn’t like the sound of her grunting, or her taste in music, and she was heavily criticised for an incident in her Australian Open semi-final win over Sloane Stephens in 2013.

Azarenka wasted five match points on serve before being broken in that game, then took a lengthy medical timeout right before Stephens had to serve to stay in the match. She was accused of taking a strategic break after admitting “I almost did the choke of the year!”

The controversy was still the main topic of headlines when she beat Li Na in the final.

“Not many people know how difficult 2013 was for me to go out there and play that final,” Azarenka said of her last major title here.

“It was a nightmare that turned from harmless incident to just headlines, headlines and headlines. That was a difficult part. But results were good, so everybody thinks it was great.

“It was amazing to win those two titles. But you always struggle, and right now it’s just a harder struggle for me.”

with agencies