Victoria Azarenka

About Victoria Azarenka

Victória Fyódorovna Azárenka (Belarusian: Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка; Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Azarenka is a former world No. 1 in singles, having claimed the top ranking for the first time on 30 January 2012. She was the year-end No. 1 in 2012 and has held the top ranking for a combined total of 51 weeks. Azarenka has won 21 WTA singles titles, including two Grand Slam singles titles at the 2012 and 2013 Australian Open, becoming the first Belarusian player, male or female, to win a Grand Slam tournament singles title. Azarenka is also a three-time major finalist at the US Open, finishing runner-up to Serena Williams in both 2012 and 2013 and to Naomi Osaka in 2020. Her other important singles achievements include winning six Premier Mandatory tournaments (including the Sunshine Double in 2016), four Premier 5 tournaments, and the singles bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, as well as being the runner-up at the 2011 WTA Finals to Petra Kvitová, reaching three additional Grand Slam singles semifinals (Wimbledon in 2011 and 2012 and the French Open in 2013), and an additional nine major quarterfinal appearances. She finished with a year-end top 10 singles ranking for five consecutive years between 2009 and 2013.

Azarenka has also been successful in doubles, winning eight WTA doubles titles (including two Premier Mandatory and two Premier 5 titles), reaching four Grand Slam finals in women's doubles, and reaching a career-high ranking of No. 7 in the world on 7 July 2008. She has also won three mixed doubles titles——two being Grand Slam titles at the 2007 US Open with compatriot Max Mirnyi and the 2008 French Open with Bob Bryan, and the third being the Olympic gold medal in mixed doubles at the 2012 London Olympics with Mirnyi.

Azarenka and former boyfriend Billy McKeague have one son, Leonard born in 2016.[152] Immediately after 2017 Wimbledon, they split and became involved in a custody battle for their son. Azarenka then withdrew from the remaining 2017 tournaments. In January 2018, Azarenka won an early round of the U.S. custody proceedings when a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that the custody case of their U.S.-born son should not take place in Los Angeles, but in Belarus. In April 2018, Azarenka returned to the tour, competing in Europe.[153][154] In December 2018, the California Courts of Appeal ruled that the LA County Superior Court had jurisdiction over the case, overturning the initial LA County Superior Court Belarus-jurisdiction decision.[155][156]