Reminiscing Their First Encounter as Mothers, 41-Year-Old Serena Williams’ Fierce Rival Tips Her Hat to the ‘Awesome’ American Tennis Legend for All the Fun Times

33-year-old Victoria Azarenka is one of the finest Belarusian players to have stepped on the court in recent years. 2012 was undoubtedly the most rewarding year for Azarenka in professional tennis, as she clinched the Australian Open and ended the year as World No. 1 in the ATP rankings. Azarenka’s period of dominance proved to be tough for her, as she had to compete with the American legend Serena Williams. The two had some memorable on-court encounters as well.

In a recent tweet, Azarenka responded to a tennis fan who fondly remembered her matchups against Serena Williams. In her response, Azarenka reminisced about a particular match against Serena, which will forever be special to her.

Azarenka reflects on her best Serena Williams memory

The Belarusian decided to take to Twitter to engage with her fans in a Q&A session. She tweeted, “Some Q&A?” Not long after that, one of her fans responded with the tweet, “do you miss Serena on tour and which is your best memory with her?”

Azarenka’s answer revealed how much she misses Serena, not just for their on-court encounters, but also for their off-court interactions. She answered the fan’s question with, “A lot honestly. But all of them will be outside the court ironically. But on the court I think when we played for the first time against each other as moms. Pretty awesome.”

In her answer, Azarenka went down memory lane as she fondly remembered her second-round match against Serena at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open. Tennis fans were licking their fingers in anticipation, and thankfully, Azarenka and Serena did not disappoint them.

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What happened as moms Azarenka and Serena faced each other?

For Azarenka, the 2019 BNP Paribas appearance was something of a redemption. Over the preceding years, both Azarenka’s professional and personal lives were in turmoil, and that took its toll on her performances. Serena also had her own troubles to deal with as she had to recover from a complicated and life-threatening childbirth.

Unsurprisingly, Serena won the first set 7-5, even though Azarenka pushed the American to her limits. However, Azarenka could not keep her momentum going into the second set, and ultimately Serena registered a comfortable 6-3 victory in the second set. For tennis fans, this was an occasion when a second-round match felt more like a final.

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