MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Victoria Azarenka calmly coasted through her opening two matches at the Australian Open. On Friday, she had to get angry.
Struggling to close out a third-round win over Mona Barthel, the third-seeded Belarusian twice thought her opponent’s shots had missed the sideline. Each time, she glared at the linesperson in disbelief.
After sealing the 6-2, 6-4 win on her fifth match point, Azarenka turned to the official and pumped her fist. Apparently, it was all part of the plan.
“I had to get a little bit not angry like in a bad way, just a little bit get my emotions going to finish the match,” she said. “Because I had few chances, I didn’t convert them.
“But sometimes you just have to push yourself a little bit to get you going again.”
Azarenka begins to psyche herself up when she walks onto court with her hood up, boxer style, and headphones on. At the Australian Open, she has been listening to a song by American R and B artist Mary J. Blige.
The 22-year-old pumps her fist after almost every point she wins. Her grunting—a high-pitched hoot—gets a little more urgent during the more extended rallies.
In her second-round win over Australia’s Casey Dellacqua, people in the crowd began to mimic the owl-like sound. It happened once on Friday, too.
“Of course I hear it. I mean, I’m not deaf,” she said with a smile. “But it’s fine for me. I respect the crowd, whatever they do. I try to just be focused on my game, and that’s it.”
Azarenka is on an eight-match winning streak after claiming the Sydney International title coming into the Australian Open, making her one of the title favorites at Melbourne Park.
No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki’s failure to win a Grand Slam title has taken attention away from the major gap in Azarenka’s resume. The No. 3-ranked Belarusian has won nine titles and more than $9m in prize money—but hasn’t reached a Grand Slam final.
“To think if I could have done better I think it’s a little bit of a waste of time, because you can’t really bring it back,” said Azarenka, who faces unseeded Czech Iveta Benesova next. “All you can do is to learn from your experiences, mistakes, good, bad, and take it to the next one.”