Victoria Azarenka has had it, calls for shorter matches, scheduling reform in Cincinnati

WATCH: Azarenka opened her Omnium Banque Nationale campaign with a win over Magda Linette before pulling out of the tournament due to injury.

CINCINNATI, Ohio—No topic is off limits at a Victoria Azarenka press conference, but she is tired of one question in particular.

“I had a transcript from a whole interview in Montréal,” she says, going into her disclaimer before she had even sat down. “That was nowhere to be found, and the only thing that came out of it was about handshakes. I want to minimize my media intake because I don’t want to keep repeating the same questions over and over.”

Azarenka first telegraphed her fatigue in real time at the Omnium Banque Nationale, visibly over the repeated queries of whether Ukrainian athletes would continue refusing to shake hands with Russians and Belarusians like herself.

“I do want to have interesting discussions because I’m very professional all the time and I do give insightful answers,” she clarifies after defeating former Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova in straight sets. “But unfortunately, the only that comes up in the media is this one question, and I just feel like I’m wasting my time.”

Once she set that aside, Azarenka, a long-running member of the WTA Players’ Council, would waste no time on a myriad of other subjects, treating the media to a marathon State of the Tour—in which she outlined her general frustration, biggest grievances, and ambitious solutions as the WTA prepares to commence a strategic partnership with CVC Capital Partners.

In the last 15 years, what has really changed in tennis? We’ve got electronic line calling, video review, coaching, and we finally agreed that there’s going to be a tiebreak, a dramatic 10-point tiebreak, which we still can’t agree to be the same everywhere! I don’t know all the answers, but we should also be thinking outside the box. I want to listen to players’ voices, and I also want to understand the tournaments’ points. In this mixture, that’s what, I feel, would be compromise. Victoria Azarenka

First on the agenda: the growing calls for scheduling reforms amidst the rash of late finishes and even later-appearing Orders of Play.

“I absolutely lost it yesterday because we work so hard in the Players Council and I just felt so frustrated, like I’m not making a difference and I put a lot of time, a lot of effort and I’m very direct,” she deadpans, confirming the obvious. “I try to be reasonable, I try to compromise, I try to create ideas and we are moving at the slowest pace to get things done. There are some things behind the scenes that we’re working on, but it’s time to get something concrete done.

“This is the only sport in the world where you don’t know when you’re going to play. It was 11PM yesterday and I didn’t know when I’m going to play. This is unacceptable in any shape or form… I look at it as a player, and it’s ridiculous. I look at it as a fan, and I don’t know which matches I’m going to go watch because I have no clue, unless you’re very fanatical, but we need to appeal to a bigger crowd to watch our sport.”

Azarenka backed world No. 1 Iga Swiatek who, buoyed from her successful initiative to allow extra-duty tennis balls from Canada through the US Open, raised the issue in her Media Day press conference on Monday. The two-time Australian Open champion echoed Swiatek’s modest proposal for earlier night session start times.

“These late finishes aren’t benefitting anyone. They’re not benefitting fans, tournaments, broadcasting because there are no primetime spots, and it’s impossible to find tennis on TV or anywhere. You’re looking for it like it’s some treasure.

“The night matches have to start earlier: 6PM, 8:30PM slots. We have to have other courts having night matches because, I understand if there’s no match on Center Court, it’s difficult for the tournament. But we need to have a back-up that can be moved to another court. We need to expend a little production on other courts to make sure we cover more for the World Feed and for the TV.

“I believe that would help a little bit more, and we won’t be talking about this every week. If tennis can help itself to have slots of time where we can market, it would be much easier for the tournament.”

Her solution for more guaranteed time slots is far more radical, and one she introduced last week in that overlooked Montréal transcript: shorter matches.

“I don’t know how it will be received, but if matches could be a little bit shorter. I think the quality of the competition won’t be affected that extremely. There’s tradition, but I don’t think it would change the game to the point where it’s unrecognizable. Maybe a third set is up to 12 points. There has to be some innovation possible.”

We want to help tennis, we want to help players, and we all want to make more money. That’s obvious, but all of these things tie together. There’s absolute effort to understand compromise, but we have to start moving towards some place. Victoria Azarenka

Citing the sport’s increased physicality, Azarenka, mother to a now six-year-old son, Leo, envisions a more streamlined scoring format leading to healthier players and the rise in rivalries among those at the top.

“In the last 15 years, what has really changed in tennis? We’ve got electronic line calling, video review, coaching, and we finally agreed that there’s going to be a tiebreak, a dramatic 10-point tiebreak, which we still can’t agree to be the same everywhere! I don’t know all the answers, but we should also be thinking outside the box. I want to listen to players’ voices, and I also want to understand the tournaments’ points. In this mixture, that’s what, I feel, would be compromise.”

Her push for quality over quantity extends to draw size, standing in opposition to the tour’s current move towards two-week tournaments that will envelope tournaments like the Western & Southern Open, currently a one-week, 64-player draw, by 2025.

“Maybe we should be looking to make them nine days and not two weeks, because if you lose first round, you’re stuck there, practicing for 13 days for your next match!” she says with a laugh.

“But our 500s, the cut-offs are like No. 23? I was ranked No. 23 and I couldn’t even get into Adelaide. I was like, ‘How is this possible?’ Those tournaments are really exciting, and I feel like those weeks, the quality of match-ups.

“Even here, in one week, it’s a 64-draw and I played the No. 11 in the world today in the first round. You see how many great match-ups we have right from the first round. You don’t need to wait for the semifinals or final when you can have action from the get-go.”

For all of her solutions, Azarenka remains most perturbed by the perceived inaction of those most capable of affecting change.

“I’m the person who will ask questions: ‘Why not? What can be done? What is the solution?’ I’m frustrated because I feel like, we all as a group, all the girls on the Council, every day we work so damn hard. I feel like we are making progress but it’s slow.”

“We want to help tennis, we want to help players, and we all want to make more money. That’s obvious, but all of these things tie together. There’s absolute effort to understand compromise, but we have to start moving towards some place.”

It was, in all, a surreal stump speech from an athlete who once struggled to find her voice behind the microphone, now 34 and one of its most compelling orators. But what clearly fuels Azarenka, more than competitive rage or political frustration, is desire, a desire to not only play well, but to also do good—and leave the tour better than she found it.