Category Archives: Victoria Azarenka

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>Elena Dementieva Retires From Tennis

>World number 7 Elena Dementieva has announced her retirement from professional tennis. Elena, 29, played her last competitive match yesterday in Doha, losing to Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-2.

Over the course of a career spanning 13 season and 847 matches, Elena has qualified for the year end finals 10 times in 11 years. As Elena made the announcement court side to fans, after a season which was marred by a nagging calf injury,  Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka looked on, in tears, as Dementieva struggled to keep it together as she thanked her mother for support.


“It is so emotional and it’s so hard to say goodbye. I am going to miss you so much. I would like to thank all the people around the world for supporting me. My mom was very supportive and inspiring. She was always there for me. It is emotional for her as well. I love you mom… Well, right now I feel like it’s the end of the world, because I really like to play. It’s going to be completely different life for me. Tennis has been such a big part of my life, and always will be. To be honest with you, I mean, if I would be a man I would never stop playing. But in the age 29, I have to think about something else. I think I’m ready for the big change in my life.”

Dementieva plans to continue the studies she started last year at Moscow University and hinted at her desire to start a family.

Her retirement is another blow to the WTA. While Elena struggled with her serve she was one of the more consistent players on the tour.


“When I talked to my family about this decision I was ready for them to support me, but they were very surprised. They said you can play a couple of years and win many tournaments – but if you feel this way you have to make this decision. I think no-one was really happy about it except my boy-friend!”

>What Happened Today? Roland Garros Round 1…

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- Janko Tipsarevic was handily send packing 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 by Alejandro Falla.

- Mikhail Youzhny looked sharp and powerful against Michal Przysiezny 6-1, 6-0, 6-4.

- Gisela Dulko, who hadn’t won a game on clay leading up to Roland Garros, wiped the floor with Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka has recently been forced to retired from 4 separate tournaments with various injuries, mostly a recurrent thigh issue. Dulko hit a lot of high looping balls that Azarenka struggled to control. Azarenka also appeared to struggle to keep her shots within the lines, much to her annoyance, as Dulko raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set.

As per normal for Dulko, she struggled to close out the match, suddenly changing things up, allowing Azarenka easy passing shots. Eventually Dulko did close it out 6-1, 6-2 in just 72 minutes.

- Marin Cilic survived a second set blip against Ricardo Malla, eventually winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Cilic has struggled to maintain his form since his blistering performance at the Australian Open earlier this season.

Ana Ivanovic Takes Dementieva Out

First Ana Ivanovic defeated her first top ten player in 20 months when she beat Victoria Azarenka. Overnight she has followed the win up with another scalp, that of Elena Dementieva for the first time. The Serbian won 6-1, 7-6. Ivanovic looked strong on serve, something which I don’t think I’ve ever said before. The win secured Ivanovic a spot in the quarterfinals where she will play Petrova.

Ivanovic played aggressively in the first set and then lost her way slightly in the second set. After falling behind in the tie break, Ivanovic fought back, taking the match in one hour and 39 minutes. It seems Ivanovic has remembered how to win. Read more »

Ana Ivanovic Scores Consecutive Wins…. Finally

Ana Ivanovic has struggled to find any sort of form this year and has changed coaches in an effort to improve her results. To date she has lost 6 of  her last 7 matches. After a holiday in Majorca with boyfriend Adam Scott, Ivanovic has managed to string together 2 consecutive wins. In the first round in Rome she defeated Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-3. More importantly she has defeated world number 10 Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-4. Read more »

>Azarenka Injured And Out Of Family Circle Cup

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Victoria Azarenka has had to withdraw from the Family Circle Cup after an injury to her hamstrings, which she picked up two weeks ago in Spain, continued to cause problems in her opening match against qualifier Christina McHale. Azarenka had been leading the match 6-2, with the score tied at 2-2 in the second set when she was forced to retire, realizing if she continued she would be unable to complete the match.

“I’ve been still feeling pain. I haven’t gotten completely out of it, but it just kept getting worse during the match. There was no point to play longer. I wouldn’t be able to finish.”

Azarenka took to her Twitter site to express her annoyance that people didn’t think her retirement was legitimate. Hello everyone! I had to retire from my match today, because of my injury I got in Marbella! Too bad I didn’t have enough time to get it better. Tried to do everything possible, but unfortunately I couldn’t do anything… I’m going back to Europe now to continue treatment and hopefully. I will be ready very soon!… Now from the internet I read some nasty things about me and my match today! Specially from my own country! It’s a shame..so for people who think I tanked the match or whatever they certainly don’t have a fucking clue what they talking about…and rules of WTA tour thanks for the support guys! Love U .”

Azarenka now plans to continue her rehab over the next 2 weeks and then plans to play in Germany. 

If her hamstrings are bothering her to the point where she can’t complete a match from a 6-2, 2-2 position then she really shouldn’t be playing in 2 weeks… Just my opinion.

>Venus Fights Back, Clijsters Pummels Azarenka

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Venus Williams very nearly found herself following a large number of men’s seeds out the door after letting Daniela Hantuchova dominate early in their match. However, in true Williams style, Venus, in her strange red corset style dress, managed to claw her way back into the match, eventually winning 1-6, 7-6, 6-4.

It’s an unusual scoreline for anyone who’s seen Hantuchova play recently. Huntuchova, over the last 1-2 years has really lacked the fire power to do any real damage. Even Venus was surprised.

“I haven’t seen her play so well in a long time, she was really executing her game. Of course, I’d like to win in a more straightforward way, but when it counts and when times get tough, I always feel confident I’m going to find a way to win the point. When I hit it hard she got it back, when I hit it high she got it back. So, just a real testimony to how well she was playing today.”

Kim Clijsters also had a good day at the office at the so called 5th Slam smashing Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-0. Azarenka later said via Twitter “Really bad game for me today! I just wasn’t myself on the court! And I need to work harder! I’m gonna take a few days off and come back better.” 

Judging by what the men and the women have been saying it sounds like a lot of them are struggling a bit mentally…. Should make for an interesting clay court season.

In other WTA results, a soggy Miami continued to be the playground for the big names to fall;
- Svetlana Kuznetsova was defeated by Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-0.
- Defending champion Victoria Azarenka was defeated by Kim Clijsters 6-4, 6-0.
- Jelena Jankovic lost to Sam Stosur 6-1, 7-6.
- Vera Zvonareva lost to Justine Henin 6-1, 6-4, although that result is not so surprising.

>Clijsters Destroys Peer

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Kim Clijsters has successfully moved into the 4th round of the Miami tournament after defeating Israel’s Shahar Peer 6-0, 6-1. Clijsters looked to have regained her form from late last year, which abandoned her at the Australian Open in a shock defeat to Nadia Petrova. Clijsters was so dominant on serve that she only lost 2 points on her first serve.

Clijsters freely discussed her happiness at re-finding her form, or as she puts it, the connection between arm and brain. It’s nice to have a feeling that your brain and your arm are kind of connecting. In Indian Wells it was a completely different story.  Gradually, throughout the two weeks that I’ve been preparing myself, after I lost to Kleybanova, I’ve been really trying to focus on getting my swing back and the feeling where you can play freely, have a loose arm. That’s the feeling when I’m out there playing.  It’s a nice feeling to have.  But, you know, I know from the past and I’ve learned from the past that it can change very quickly, as well.  I just want to try to maintain this feeling and keep focusing, practice on just moving well and taking small steps.”

Kimmy next faces Victoria Azarenka who is trying to defend the title she won last year.

>What Happened Today?

>- Rafa Nadal had a better day in the office than Novak Djokoivc did, winning his opening match in Miami against Taylor Dent even with painful wisdom teeth, winning 6-4, 6-3 in just 70 minutes.

- Kim Clijsters won her match after rain soaked delays in in Miami. She later said via Twitter “Long day after rain here, really happy with how I played tonight and stayed focused the whole match. Day off now tomorrow. Yay!!!”

- Defending champion Victoria Azarenka won her second round match as well today. The other defending champion, Andy Murray, faces Mardy Fish. Murray will be hoping to do well at the tournament, having just 35 points separating him and Rafael Nadal in the rankings.

- At this moment Elena Dementieva is suffering at the hands of Justine Henin and her inappropriate seeding/ranking just as she did at the Australian Open. She is down 3-6, 0-4.

- Thomaz Bellucci defeated James Blake in 3 sets, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Seeds Crumble In Indian Wells

It wasn’t a good day for the seeds at Indian Wells today. While some only just survived, like Novak Djokovic, others fell by the wayside.

It reads like a casualties list: Read more »