World No.1 Victoria Azarenka has attributed her phenomenal start to the 2012 season to a newly-developed maturity on and off the court, that has helped her remain composed in tough situations.
The Belarusian has won all three tournaments she contested so far this year, including a maiden Grand Slam victory at the Australian Open, and comes to Dubai fresh off her triumph in Doha on Sunday.
“I think I’m more of a complete player. I have a better mind, a clear mind when I go on the court. I know what I’m doing,” said the 22-year-old, who plays Julia Goerges in the second round on Wednesday. “I know it’s never going to be easy for me, it’s never going to be how I want it. So before, whenever maybe I didn’t get things the way I wanted, ‘I was like oh my God it’s not going my way, I don’t want to do it’.
“My approach now is if things aren’t going my way I have to find a way to turn it around, and make it go my way. It’s a different approach and came from a lot of learning experience from a lot of matches last year. I think the best experience to learn is from a loss.”
Azarenka is not just infamous for her loud grunting during play but also her emotions and eruptions on court, but the top seed admits she can now keep her tantrums in check especially after going through a tough moment last season where she questioned whether she would continue in the sport.
She said of her former outbursts: “My mum said you look like an idiot on court sometimes, and she was right. I need to behave more like a lady not like a crazy kid sometimes! I’m always going to be an emotional player because I play with my heart, I play with passion. But I’ve been doing a much better job controlling those bad emotions.
"There’s obviously a lot I can improve on, especially off the court, but also on the court as well. Last year I had a moment where I really had to decide either I had to change something to get better, to really give myself a chance to be where I want to be, or I just have to let it go and stop and I just decided to give myself the best chance and be professional in everything that I do.”
Azarenka is undefeated so far this season having compiled an impeccable 17-0 record. So is the world No.1 keeping count or is she blocking all news of her winning streak to focus on her tennis? “I think it’s a mistake to block it because there is no point to block it because the people are going to talk about,” she said. “For me I just accept it. I have my whole team to count for me. Math is not my favourite, I just like to count money!”
Azarenka also hit back at more criticism of her on-court grunting, claiming it was as natural and uncontrollable as snoring. “Do you snore?,” she hit back at a journalist. When he replied ‘yes’, Azarenka asked whether or not he could control it. “No, I guess it’s natural,” said the reporter. “So it’s natural to you, right? So that’s natural to me, too, the way I play tennis.”
