World No. 2 Victoria Azarenka, who has beaten Serena Williams in their last two hard-court finals after falling to Williams in the 2012 U.S. Open final, explains why she has had success against the world No. 1.
“When you play against Serena, you have to play your best because she makes me play my best,” said Azarenka, who will face Williams in the U.S. Open final on Sunday.“I think I kind of do the same way to her. I think we kind of raise each other's level all the time and take each other to the limit. To go out of that place where you sometimes don't know, how far you can go, but you just still go for it...The battles that we had, it was really just taking each other out of the most comfortable zone and just fight for every ball. I know her strengths; she knows my strengths.”
The 24-year-old Belarusian added that in order to get Serena out of her comfort zone, “You've got to fight. You've got to run, you've got to grind, and you've got to bite with your teeth for whatever opportunity you have. She's obviously an amazing player. She's the greatest of all time.”