Victoria Azarenka Set for Emotional Return to Dubai

Victoria Azarenka Set for Emotional Return to Dubai

Victoria Azarenka, the 22-year-old athlete from Minsk, admits that her bid to win two Middle East tournaments in weeks is an emotional one as she returns to Dubai where, this time last year, she almost quit the game after early defeats.

After securing one the most surprising turns in the modern game; however, she returns to the city as a new world’s number one.

Azarenka is scheduled to play at this week's Qatar Classic which starts on Monday, where she lost in the first round to Daniel Hantuchova last year, and at next week's Dubai Open, where she lost second round to Flavia Pennetta.

Those successive defeats made Azarenka become desperate and only her closest family members could console her.

After she has recovered out of her desperation and with the support from family and friends, Azarenka is now definitely more confident and will attempt to win the title in Dubai.

"Last year I was in a bit of a mess. I couldn't control any of my emotions. I had to change my mentality," the Australian Open champion said.

It is more likely that Azarenka will play again against Petra Kvitova, the Wimbledon champion who has beaten her four times in a row just recently in the WTA Championships in Istanbul in November.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Monday February 20 2012, 3:01 PM EDT. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0