JAKARTA - Imagine being one of the best in the world. Imagine not being able to continue the match and ending in tears. Imagine competing 'without a flag' because your country decided to support war.
This is the story of Victoria Azarenka, No.15 in the WTA rankings, who lost to Elena Rybakina in a match at Indian Wells.
Starting with the basics, the Belarusian's 3-6 and 4-6 score was better than her last finalist appearance at Indian Wells, where she lost to Paula Badosa.
At 2-2 and one serve for Azarenka on the second serve came the unthinkable: she double-faulted, the opponent equalized and she burst into tears.
Idk if anyone posted this or not but after hitting a df, Victoria Azarenka broke down into tears and looked in distress (when umpire asked her if she wanted to see a physio she said no) today her twitter and Instagram are gone. Hope everything is fine with her https://t.co/u9SyoNqJcb pic.twitter.com/VDazf7vQaw
— NoFirstName claycourtdal (@SMSTNS) March 15, 2022
Even the referee had to get out of his chair to ask what happened, because it didn't seem, after all, that it was a physical or tennis problem. Obviously, questions arise and the main one with 'Vika' is whether it has anything to do with her personal situation and the conflict going on in her neighboring country.
Azarenka has been very vocal about the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.
"I am devastated. I hope and hope for peace and an end to war," said one of the greatest Belarusian sportsmen of all time, Azarenka was quoted as saying by Marca, Thursday, March 17.
She is a two-time Australian Open champion (2012 and 2013) and a three-time US Open finalist.
In addition, he played 'flagless' at Indian Wells due to vetoes in Russia and Belarus. It is unknown, for now, whether this personal situation caused her to lose to Kazakhstan's Rybakina, as the only thing Vika commented on was "sorry". No longer.
To make matters worse, Azarenka deleted Instagram and Twitter after the game. The uncontrollable crying was more than just a match.
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