“There’s a certain strength in showing vulnerability” – Victoria Azarenka opens up on her new podcast ‘Think About It’
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Belarusian tennis star Victoria Azarenka is a well-known commodity in women’s game. The 31-year old is a two-time Australia Open champion, and a three time US Open finalist. Azarenka burst on to the world stage when she defeated Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open final 2012. Since then, Azarenka has been through a lot of ups and downs in her personal life as well as her tennis career. In her professional life, Azarenka soared to world no.1 in 2012, then dropped out of the top 200, concurred career-threatening injuries and currently sits at world no.13.
On the personal side of things, Azarenka became a mother of a boy, then was forced into a bitter custody battle, which took her attention away from tennis. These kinds of ups and downs gave Azarenka a unique perspective on life, tennis and everything around her.
And the Belarusian has tried to portray her take on life through a six-episode podcast series called ‘Think About It’. Azarenka made this podcast in partnership with WTA and Tennis Channel. In these six-episodes, Azarenka talks about mental health and quality of life, as well as some anecdotes from her life experience.
The podcast is set to be released on 27th January, and will feature interviews with sports psychologist Trevor Moawad, Peloton instructor Robin Arzon and professional rock climber Sasha Digualian. The Belarusian recently spoke about this podcast, and her experience recording it.
‘It’s something that I haven’t really done before’ – Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka gave an interview to sports website Sportskeeda, where she detailed her thoughts on ‘Think About It’. Azarenka was asked about her state of mind ahead of the big release. She describes herself as being nervous as well as excited for this new project. “What makes me nervous is that it’s a new thing for me to do. It’s something that I haven’t really done before. I would probably say that’s it,” Azarenka said.
She continued saying say, “It’s a project that I’ve kind of built from scratch and put a lot of work into. Sometimes these things are subjective. When you play tennis, it’s win or lose. But when you release something like this it’s subjective in terms of how it goes. Did people like it or not? So it’s a bit of an unusual feeling for me. But I’m very excited for people to see it because I really put my heart and soul into it. I’m not necessarily nervous about how it’s going to be received. I am nervous because I have opened up myself and my guests to a point where nobody has really seen me. And the conversation that I’ve started, I’ve never been really talked about (before).”
Azarenka also stressed upon the need for players to be a little more open about their life. She said, “I feel that that is sometimes missing in sport – this authenticity and realness. A lot of athletes a lot of times are very protective about themselves, and for good reasons. But I feel there’s a certain strength in showing your vulnerability and sharing those experiences for people to see.”
“So yeah, I think that’s where a bit of my nervousness is coming from. And I really don’t take it in a bad way. It’s just really how I feel and I think that’s pretty normal,” Azarenka concluded.
Also Read: WATCH: When Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka entertained the crowd playing Tennis left-handed
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