Victoria Azarenka has pledged to return back to her very best in 2016 after enduring a injury-stricken end to the year on the tour.
The former world No.1 hasn’t played a match on the tour since the second round of the Wuhan Open in October where she retired during the second set due to a thigh injury. It isn’t the first time that the Belarusian has been troubled by injury. Throughout 2014 she was forced to miss five months of the tour due to a foot injury. Nevertheless despite her injury woes, Azarenka still has the ability to compete with the best. This year she has reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the US Open. During a recent interview with Fox Sports Australia, 26-year-old is not worrying about her recent misfortunes.
“I’m not talking about the past, it’s in the past so it’s kind of irrelevant to me,” Azarenka said.
In 2016 the world No.22 will be bidding to win her first title on the WTA Tour since 2013. She came close this year at the Doha Open but lost in the final to Lucie Safarova. Speaking about the new tennis season, Azarenka believes that she is still yet to play her best tennis.
“In my head, my best is still to come. I’ve been working a lot on my game and overall getting everything put all together so we’ll see.’’ The 26-year-old said.
Azarenka will start the new year at the Brisbane International as she prepares for the Australian Open. She has an impressive record at the Australian Open after winning the tournament in 2012 and 2013. Throughout her career Azarenka boasts a win-loss of 35-8 at the tournament (81% winning rate), her best performance out of all of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
Refusing to speak about her 2016 goals, Azarenka plans to bring in some new tactics next year as she bids to be more aggressive on the court against the best in the world.
“I like to more execute my goals than talk about it, I think it’s a waste of time talking about it,” she said.
“All the time I work to be a more and more complete player and work on my all-round game and be more aggressive, to reinvent and bring some new things this year.’’
The Brisbane International will get underway on January 4th. At 22nd in the world Azarenka will be unseeded at the tournament, which will feature eight top 15 players.
