A meditation on anti-doping and corruption gave way to Azarenka’s broader wishlist of what she’d change in the sport. A pro for over two decades and a mom to eight-year-old son Leo, she took a blue-sky approach in the mixed zone and outlined everything from prize money to scheduling to marketing the sport and its players.
“My concern is less for me and more for younger players because it’s going to be a lot harder for them to have a career as long as I’ve had, to play 20-plus years on tour,” she said, taking a stand against the influx of two-week 1000-level tournaments and best-of-five-set scoring. “From that end, I also think there should also be a conversation about how differently the balls have changed and evolved over the years, surfaces as well.
“When it comes to scheduling, we need more predictability to sell product for players to prepare, for fans to watch and business to distribute,” she added.
“I just want to see our sport grow, honestly. I really want our sport to do well. This sport gave me so much in my life, and I want to see it grow, become bigger, keep being a dominant sport for women. There’s a lot of sports coming up and giving us competition. We need to keep making those strides forward too.”
With only 15 minutes on the mic, Azarenka was forced to table numerous other issues, but could make a return appearance at the pulpit should she win her second round against No. 26 seed Magdalena Freçh.
