Former world no.1 Victoria Azarenka had a pretty straightforward second-round match in the Australian Open. At the post match press conference, the 2-time Grand Slam winner gave her take on the recent controversy surrounding Novak Djokovic.
The Belarusian is one of the members of the WTA players’ council and has a clear voice that everyone listens to. At the press conference, she made her stand clear about the whole vaccination fiasco with Djokovic.
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Victoria Azarenka gives her take on the Novak Djokovic situation
In her second-round match, Victoria Azarenka beat Jil Teichmann of Switzerland by 6-1,6-2. However, in the post match presser, a reporter asked her about the vaccination of players and her take was pretty clear about the whole situation. She respects the sport and rules of every country which are trying to make a safer place for everyone to play tennis.
“From my point of view, it’s very clear. I believe in science and in vaccination. I don’t wanna push my beliefs on everybody else, but we play a global sport, traveling around the world and we have to respect different countries,” Azarenka said.
Azarenka on the deportations. "This whole situation could have been prevented from the beginning. (…) Could have been adressed earlier. Nobody looked good in this situation, it was a circus. On certain things black and white approach is necessary instead of having a grey area."
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 19, 2022
Azarenka also talked about the Novak Djokovic situation and said, “This whole situation could have been prevented from the beginning…. it was a circus.”
Watch The Story: Nick Kyrgios slams Rafael Nadal and others for not supporting Novak Djokovic
The former World No.1 also sounded clear that the WTA also supports the vaccination of every player. “The WTA is very in favor of the vaccination and I think that is the right thing to do when we play a sport like this one.” Azarenka further added.
"The WTA is very in favour of the vaccination and I think that is the right thing to do when we play a sport like this one."
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 19, 2022
Azarenka will face Elina Svitolina in the third round
The 2-time Grand Slam champion had some easy fixtures in her first two rounds, but her next opponent will not be an easy one. She will face Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who had a much more difficult encounter against Harmony Tan of France in the second-round.
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Svitolina beat the Frenchwoman by 6-3, 5-7, 5-1, as Tan had to pull out of the match in the 3rd set due to an injury. Despite that, Svitolina will pose a big threat to Azarenka and it will be an entertaining match to watch for sure.
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Who will win between Svitolina and Azarenka? Let us know in the comments.
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