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WIMBLEDONJune 24, 2013Victoria AzarenkaLONDON, ENGLAND V. AZARENKA/M. Koehler THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. In Paris you had a relationship with clay you didn't put the ring on the finger. But clay moved in with you. What's up with grass? Do you need some counseling, going to get a divorce? What's up? VICTORIA AZARENKA: No, I mean, I think I've been showing pretty consistent results over the last couple years on grass. I think I learned a lot more, you know, with experience how to play on grass. You definitely make an adjustment. I mean, I like grass actually. At the beginning it was difficult to understand what kind of adjustments I need to do to play on that. But I think my game suits pretty well, and I'm excited to be here. Wimbledon's one of my favorite events. So I think the grass is very appropriate. Maybe we'll see the ring on my finger after two weeks. Q. Can you talk us through what happened with the injury? VICTORIA AZARENKA: You know, after the serve, it happened so quick in the second that my leg just kind of collapsed. You know, I felt like my knee just turned to the other way, and it was just so nasty. I was in such shock. You know, for two minutes I had such a consistent pain that it just completely freaked me out what happened. Because you never know. You're just down on the ground. You never know what happened. It was so quick and a huge shock. Q. At that moment did you think your tournament might be over? VICTORIA AZARENKA: I actually had no idea. I didn't think about what's gonna happen with the tournament. I just was hope I was okay, you know, because happen so quick. And what happens in your mind is beyond what happens on the tennis court. Q. Did you receive some reassuring news? Do you know now the extent of the injury? Do you hope you can recover in time for your next match? VICTORIA AZARENKA: I hope so. I still have to do some more checkups to make sure. You know, it's good to have tomorrow to recover. But I still need to make the final assessments. Q. You still have more physical examinations to undergo? VICTORIA AZARENKA: I still will have some today just to make sure everything, you know, to cover every single possibility. So, yeah. Q. It looked and sounded terminal when you did it. We were really concerned for you. VICTORIA AZARENKA: I was so concerned for myself. As I said, it was beyond, you know, what can happen on a tennis court, or should a player play. At that moment, it's so shocking because you have no ground. You basically just fall. You know, your legs go one way, and there is no balance or nothing. Nothing I could control in that moment, and that's scary. Q. You seem fortunate in the extent she didn't put a lot of pressure, didn't make you run a lot. VICTORIA AZARENKA: I think, first of all, it's quite difficult to make a lot of dropshots against my game. I really understood that there is not much‑‑ you know, I could move the same way as before my fall. So I really went for my shots. I felt like I had to be aggressive, to finish as quick as possible. Q. But she didn't move you about the court hardly at all. You were rooted to the baseline hitting the ball back to her and she responded in kind. VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I think sometimes it's difficult with the pace to really direct the ball, but I don't know. I mean, the court was just a little bit slippery today. She also fell twice. Q. The same place. VICTORIA AZARENKA: In the same place. It wasn't as bad. I don't know. Can't really speak for her game. But I'm just glad for me it was over and I could manage to kind of go through those struggles. Q. Given what happened, what are your thoughts about having made it through, about being so tough in the face of this injury to survive this match? VICTORIA AZARENKA: You know, at that moment I was just thinking that I have to try, you know, I have to try and do something. And I was concerned and the physios was concerned, Can you go through, can you play on it? And I had no idea till I would go and I would try. You know, felt really painful. One moment it was getting better. Then it was inconsistency. But I just wanted to give everything I have on that court even though I knew it could get worse. I just wanted to play and try my best. Q. Now that you made it through, what are your thoughts about having done it? VICTORIA AZARENKA: I'm pretty proud of the way I kind of programmed my mind and really was taking it one at a time because it's never easy. At one point I couldn't see the ball. All I could think about is, you know, what happened. So that shock took a little bit of while for me to get over. But I'm glad I could, you know, find that calmness in that critical moment. Q. Was there any thought, given Serena and Maria's back and forth this week, that you could fly under the radar a little bit, that you could escape the drama a little bit to your advantage? VICTORIA AZARENKA: I don't think I need to look for the drama when there is no drama for me. I don't really like drama. I like to be, you know, respectful and, you know, just in competition, you know, to be good with everybody. So for me it's important, the tournament. The drama, I mean, everybody who wants the drama will take that. Q. Our sport obviously focuses on the four majors which are so important. Now you've had a series of health problems here, the incident when it was so hot in New York, the breathing situation in Australia. Can you talk about having such an intense health situation, injury, during the biggest events we have? Can you compare them a bit. VICTORIA AZARENKA: I mean, first of all, the story in New York has nothing to do with being hot and everything. I told that many times. I fell right before I went on the court and I had a concussion. So I played in much hotter weather than it was that day. So obviously it had nothing to do with that. The breathing before in Australia was also something that was a virus. I didn't know what happened. So things like this, sometimes you cannot prevent. But I think I've got a lot better with managing my body, with managing, you know, injuries and how to prepare for the big events like Grand Slams for two weeks. So I think that's all an experience. But definitely, you know, something like today, you can do nothing about that. It just happens. Q. A few words about your opponent. It was her first main draw match at Wimbledon. What did you see on the other side of the net? VICTORIA AZARENKA: I think she's a very talented girl. She has big shots. Especially her forehand is very dangerous. I think she has a big potential. I obviously didn't know much about her. But I think, you know, she has big serve, you know, maybe has to get a little bit more consistent with the movement. But she has good shots and good timing. Q. You spoke a little while ago about liking to avoid the drama, just keeping the concentration on the court. Certainly that's not been the case, as we've seen. Yet you're somebody whose private life is pretty public, too. How have you managed to avoid that kind of drama? VICTORIA AZARENKA: I don't have drama in my life, really (smiling). Q. Neither did they before the weekend started. VICTORIA AZARENKA: I cannot really speak for somebody. As I said before, I know what it's like to be misunderstood sometimes, or, you know, whatever you said could be taken a different way. So I don't know. I don't have problem with Maria or Serena in that particular case, so I'm out of that and I don't want to get involved. My personal life is my personal life. I don't like to comment on anybody else's personal life because it's their own business, and I'm minding my own business. We are here to play a tournament. Q. How did you draw on your years of experience when a friend of yours suffered a tough defeat in the first round in a big tournament back in America? Did you give some nice advice to console him after that setback? VICTORIA AZARENKA: Sorry, who are you talking about? Q. Redfoo. VICTORIA AZARENKA: Oh, my God. I thought you were talking about real US Open tournament. He's happy with the match. I didn't see the match because was nighttime here. I mean, as long as he's happy... I'm proud of him no matter what. To go out and have courage to do something like that, that's pretty remarkable. He's a champion in his heart. I mean, his forehand should get better, definitely. I mean, that's something that he has to work on. Q. As someone who has traveled all over the world and is internationally known, what are your thoughts today as Nelson Mandela is dealing with a life‑threatening condition? VICTORIA AZARENKA: You know what, I actually don't know what you're talking about right now because I haven't heard any news about that. I'm sorry. Q. What did the medics think the problem with your knee is? Ligament or cartilage damage? VICTORIA AZARENKA: That's what I need to have further examinations on. I haven't been able to do any scans yet. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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