Victoria Azarenka says she is satisfied with her performance at the Australian Open, seeing it as a step towards the top as she continues her return from foot injuries.
The two-time Australian Open champion played only nine events last year because of foot and knee injuries, and fell in her opening match to Karolina Pliskova at her warm-up event in Brisbane. But she reached the fourth round in Melbourne, defeating three opponents in the Top 32, before falling to 2014 runner-up Dominika Cibulkova.
Now ranked No. 44, Azarenka says she looked at the event as ''progress.''
"I think there are a lot of the positive things to take from here. It's a good start. There was some good quality of tennis today," she said. "I need to be more consistent and I need to be able to take my opportunities when I have them. But overall, I can be pretty happy."
Azarenka said she found being sidelined a challenge, particularly since it was accompanied by a break-up with her famous boyfriend, RedFoo, but is now more positive. "I think my attitude and my approach to matches, to tournaments, has changed. That's more satisfying for me. I feel that I'm very honest with myself on my effort and I'm working really hard. I'm just trying to do my best, so there are things I can be pleased with," she said.
The Belarussian now wants to return to contending for big titles. "I don't want to stop here and be, 'Okay, this was a good match,' she said. "I want to strive for much better. I'm just going to work hard, try to analyze this match, this tournament, and keep working. I think that the direction where I'm heading is the right way."