‘Played Some Great Tennis’ – Victoria Azarenka Heaps Praises on Opponent Yulia Putintseva After Battling out a 3-Set Thriller at the Miami Open

Belarusian tennis player Victoria Azarenka surprised her fans by dishing out a different opinion of her opponent Yulia Putintseva. Azarenka faced off against Putintseva in the quarterfinals of the ongoing Miami Open tournament.

The rivalry between Victoria Azarenka and Yulia Putintseva first picked traction when the duo faced off against each other in Doha two years back, where Azarenka made a shocking comment about Putintseva. However, two years later, Victoria Azarenka has again surprised the fraternity by presenting a completely different opinion.

Victoria Azarenka drops some praise for her opponent Yulia Putintseva

The Belarusian tennis star joined Prakash Amritraj in an interview with Tennis Channel. At the beginning of this interview, the host asked Azarenka about her experience playing against Yulia Putintseva. Surprising many, Azarenka praised her opponent and her performance at the Miami Open tournament. Azarenka commented, “Yulia played some great tennis. I feel like she’s, you know, she, she played really well in Indian Wells and had some really good wins here. So I know she’s a very tough competitor and she’s going to fight until the last ball, but I feel like she also improved a lot this year. She She plays more aggressive. She can mix up the ball. So it was definitely tough I feel like second set.”

The Belarusian finally defeated the Kazakhstani WTA star by 7-6 (4), 1-6 and 6-3. Azarenka suffered a delay of fifty-three minutes in the first set due to technical errors in the scoring system. Nevertheless, she managed to pull off the victory. Now, Azarenka’s comments express the transition in her mentality. This is also because two years back this Belarusian WTA star dropped a rather insensitive comment against Putintseva.

Victoria Azarenka previously made an insensitive comment against Yulia Putintseva at the Doha Open tournament

The Belarusian tennis star faced off with this Kazakhstani WTA star at the Doha Open in 2022. Putintseva threw her racquet when Azarenka brought a 4-0 deficit in the third set of their match at the Doha Open 2022.  Putintseva’s behavior brought disappointment to Victoria Azarenka and the latter made an insensitive comment about the Kazakhstani tennis star to the chair umpire.

Azarenka told the umpire that Putintseva needed a psychiatrist. In her words– “Before my serve, she can do that. What’s the problem? She has to wait for me to serve. She threw her racquet, like, 7 times. Four, four is okay. She needs a mental coach, she needs a psychiatrist,” However, those days of disappointment are gone in the past.

Azarenka’s change of tone when talking about her old rival Yulia Putintseva showcased that this Belarusian WTA star has worked on her temperament. It also represented the growing maturity and humbleness of Azarenka that might help her to secure more wins in the future.

Read more: Miami Open 2024: Victoria Azarenka vs Katie Boulter; Preview, Head-to-Head, and Prediction