“That was a strong message”: Victoria Azarenka Opens Up on Her Career and Motherhood

Belarussian tennis star Victoria Azarenka has opened up on her motherhood and how it is an empowering message for women when it comes to juggling one’s career and tending to the little one.

Considered a supermom in tennis alongside familiar foe and 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams, she hasn’t slowed down in terms of chasing her career goals even after becoming a mother.

Azarenka said she sent out a message the day she returned to tennis post motherhood

Serena, too, has set a wonderful example in the way she devotes equal amounts of time to her tennis and daughter Alexis Olympia.

In an interview with a Chinese sports network, the two-time Grand Slam champion said the message of empowerment to fellow women went out the day she made a comeback to tennis after being blessed with motherhood.

Asked if she is sending a message out to women who are often caught between their careers and motherhood, Azarenka said, “I feel that message, first of all, broke once I started my comeback, when my son was just born as well as when Serena came back (to tennis after becoming a mother).”

She said the message that she, Serena, and all working mothers out there have sent is to simply cut through all stereotypes that pigeonhole women to a certain role.

Azarenka said that any woman could aspire to be a lot more than just a mother or just a professional.

“Silly to put people in boxes”: Victoria Azarenka

“I felt the stereotype of (a) woman having a child and being able to come back to tennis or in any other field of career, I feel that was a strong message sent at that time.

“I feel it’s silly to put people in boxes of what they are because a lot of people are much more than, you know, just a tennis player or a mom.

“My message is that you can do it all,”  said the current World Number 13.

On the challenge of travelling with or without her son, Vika, as she is also known to her fans and the tennis world, said, “It’s definitely not easy but at the same time, I feel actually privileged that I have that opportunity to have my son with me when I work.

“And travelling, it’s sometimes challenging but at the same time I feel (that) for my son, it’s an amazing opportunity to travel the world and see other cultures, experience other cultures, other different parts of the world.”

She added that such experiences can only come from traveling the world.

“I think those experiences, you cannot get them in schools, you cannot get anywhere else, except living through them. So, I do take that more as a privilege than a challenge,” Vika said.

Read More: WATCH: Victoria Azarenka Wins the  Weirdest Point of the Year

Azarenka will head to the Australian Open eyeing her third Grand Slam title.