Victoria Azarenka says nothing much has changed for her since she achieved the twin feats of becoming the first player from Belarus to win a Grand Slam tournament and take the world number one ranking. Azarenka has had a dream run since the beginning of the year during which she won the Australian Open and dethroned Caroline Wozniacki as the world’s top ranked player. But she reckons that apart from the extra attention she is receiving everywhere she pretty much remains the same person. “My life has not changed suddenly after winning the Australian Open,” Azarenka told journalists at the draw for Qatar Open beginning Monday.
“Surely, I am getting much more attention since becoming the world number one ranking and the Australian Open, but essentially I am the same person, the same player,” Azarenka added. Azarenka knows that by winning the Australian Open to go with her top ranked status she has avoided the dreaded question that players like Wozniacki, Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic had to face often at press conferences when they were ranked number one without having a Grand Slam title to account for.
But at the same time she is aware that more would be expected of her. “Obviously my goal is to win as many tournaments I can this year, hopefully another Grand Slam,” she said. “Surely there is pressure because people would now have more expectations from me, but I consider that as a challenge.” With all three wild cards and five of the eight qualifiers in her half of the draw, the toughest challenge she may face is from Italian Francesca Schiavone in the quarter-finals and a possible meeting with Agnieszka Radwanska in the semi-finals.
