“It became a circus” Victoria Azarenka breaks silence over Novak Djokovic deportation
Follow Us
Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka
World No. 25 and the 24th seed at the 2022 Australian Open, Victoria Azarenka cruised into the third round of the Slam after she beat Switzerland’s Jil Teichman 6-1, 6-2 in 1 hour and 13 minutes on Day-3 on the Kia Arena at Melbourne Park. The win takes Azarenka into the third round of the Slam for the 11th time in her 14 appearances.
Post her victory over Teichman, Azarenka finally broke the silence over the Novak Djokovic visa debacle that ended with the Serbian getting deported out of Australia after losing the court appeal. Azarenka is part of the WTA Players Council and touched upon various topics related to the Djokovic case and her personal stand on vaccination.
“I believe this whole situation could have been prevented from the beginning. It could have been addressed earlier. What happened after, I think nobody looked good in this situation in any case and it became a circus. There should be a hard look at this situation moving forward. On certain things, the black and white approach is necessary instead of having a grey area.
“From my point of view, it’s very clear. I believe in science and in vaccination. I don’t wanna push my beliefs on everybody else, but we play a global sport, travelling around the world and we have to respect different countries. The WTA is very in favour of the vaccination and I think that is the right thing to do when we play a sport like this one.
“I’m not saying that after getting vaccinated then nobody will be sick but I think it is a step to hopefully battle against this Coronavirus and hopefully bring it down globally. But to make it a mandate, there is much more to it if you ask just ask my opinion, I think it would just be helpful for everybody in the world when we are travelling internationally,” said Azarenka during the press conference.
Victoria Azarenka speaks about Peng Shuai’s safety and her 3rd round match
As part of the WTA Players Council, Azarenka also discussed the developments in the Peng Shuai case as the player remains out of touch with WTA and efforts continue to get in touch with the Chinese player.
“There hasn’t been much development in terms of contact with Peng Shuai even though from our side we will continue to make any and all efforts to make sure she is safe and comfortable. Hopefully, we will get to hear from her personally at some point. The main goal right now and as part of the Women’s Association, I am proud that we supporting our players. We all hope for the best,” said Azarenka.
With a spicy 3rd round match against Elina Svitolina coming up, Azarenka said, “We had a few battles already actually on different surfaces and we’ve practised quite a few times together so I think there won’t be too many big surprises on the court. However, she’s an amazing fighter, she fights no matter what so I think that is a very important quality in her game and the rest is about trying to really focus on myself to be more in charge and control.”
Stay Updated!
Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)