Victoria Azarenka, who retired with a leg injury in the second round of Wuhan while trailing Johanna Konta, says she has had a difficult time mentally this year. The former No. 1 admitted that she was depressed in 2014, but at the start of the year said she was recharged—even saying that she wanted to be No. 1 again. But this season, she has been repeatedly injured and unable to win many of her big matches.
"The year has been tough, not just on the court," Azarenka said following the match against Konta. "It's been still a lot of good experiences for me. But just frustration. I guess my mind is not totally here right now. I'm just thinking a little bit ahead. But I got to try to stay present a little bit and give my best in my next two tournaments. But coming in a little bit not healthy, it's not easy definitely. But it's the end of the year, it's been a tough year. I just need to push a little bit more through."
Azarenka lost to Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round of the Australian Open, then fell to Serena Williams in the third round at the French Open. Azarenka lost to Williams again in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. The 26-year-old also reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open, where she fell to Simona Halep in three sets.
"I believe I need to get faster," she said. "I need to get a little bit more mobile. I lost that, the first one-two step movement that I had before."
Azarenka said that she is pleased that during the off-season, she will be able to work with her coach Wim Fissette and hitting partner Sascha Bajin. She and her former coach Sam Sumyk parted ways in February. Fissette used to coach Kim Clijsters, while Bajin worked with Williams for years.
"It's going to be my first off-season with my new team," Azarenka said. "That's something I didn't have an opportunity this year to work on. I didn't have a time slot that I can just dedicate to work on specific things. It's just been like a little bit there, a little bit there. That's resulted in a little bit of inconsistency from me right now. The important thing for me is to get my body fit 100 percent on a consistent basis."
Azarenka began the season ranked No. 42 and is currently ranked No. 23.