Victoria Azarenka Leads by Example as She Turns Disciplinarian to Teach Crucial Lesson to 7-Year-Old Son

Former world No. 1, Victoria Azarenka is as competitive off the court as much as she is on it. As a mother, she supports her son, Leonard in his sporting endeavors as he enjoys playing soccer. Azarenka is regularly spotted helping him with his practice sessions, teaching him about the mindset of sporting legends like herself. But with that mindset comes the reality of losing and winning.

Although a doting mother, Azarenka doesn’t like losing even to her son. Appearing on a podcast she talks about strict rules for her son to ensure he realizes that nothing comes easy.

‘He can beat me in few things now’ – Victoria Azarenka

Azarenka was recently featured on The AO Show where she talked about how she doesn’t let her son win because she wants him to realize what it takes to be a winner, “I will help him with what was maybe not the best call, what to do, but I would not let him win. And funny enough he can beat me in a few things now because he gets to learn that things don’t come easy.”

Being purposefully hard on her 7-year-old son on the field, Azarenka goes on to say that she is extremely supportive of him and wants him to do good. Leading by example, she tries to show him the importance of hard work in securing a spot at the top.

“I want him to learn the value of hard work and what it takes. Because that’s what I tried to show him every day with my work. I tried to show you what it takes to be the best, what it takes to earn your spot at the top, and how hard it is,” the Belarusian adds.

Teaching her son how to shoot for the moon, it can be said that Azarenka acquired these traits from one of her parents, who constantly pushed her to do better and was crucial in impacting her mindset during games.

Victoria Azarenka doesn’t want to disappoint her mom ‘by losing’

Talking about her mother on William Hill’s Upfront with Simon Jordan podcast, Victoria Azarenka says, “I also kind of put a lot of pressure when I was a kid. My mum was very tough with me. She pushed me. She was getting so sad when I would lose, I didn’t want to disappoint her by losing,”

The Belarusian confessed that she held onto feelings of guilt for a significant period, stemming from the pressure of not meeting her parents’ expectations. This motivated her to strive for victory in every match she played.

“I still carry that guilt when I lose because it happened for quite a long time,” she added. “So when I was competing, I was so scared to lose, so it made me not want to lose any time so I had to find a way how not to.” Taking a page out of her childhood perhaps she will not let things get so complicated with Leonard.

Azarenka or Vika, as she is fondly known, will be in action displaying her champion mindset against Elena Rybakina in the semi-finals of the Miami Open tomorrow.

Read More: ‘My Mum Stopped Watching..’- Victoria Azarenka’s Weird Superstition on Her Parents Showing Up to Matches