My Tennis Heroes

The last time that Victoria Azarenka was seen taking part in a professional match was about 100 days ago. A foot injury had kept her out of the game since then, but, now, she is all set to make an appearance on the tour again. Next week, she would lock horns with Camila Giorgi of Italy in her first match in the Aegon international tennis tournament.

Azarenka has been having hits since the last couple of weeks, but, for any player no matter of what standard he/she is, match practice is very, very important. If you are going into a tournament without match practice, you are most likely to look rusty at least in your first 2-3 matches. So, the Belarusian player can’t be expected to bring out her top game straightaway. But, yes, as much time she spends out there on the court, she will only get better.

Talking to the press yesterday, Azarenka said, “As soon as I started having no pain, I decided to have light practice. I have been keen to play and I am glad that finally tomorrow is the day when I am going to be on the court again taking somebody on.”

“I have had some good practice sessions, but, as we all know that practicing and playing in the match are two different things. However, I am pretty hopeful that I would be able to do well.”

It’s just three tournaments that Azarenka has taken part in this season. Two were right at the start of the season i.e. the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament and the Australian Open, while, the third one was the BNP Paribas Open from which she got knocked out pretty early.

Azarenka’s position in the WTA rankings at the moment is no. 8.

Novak Djokovic had taken the tennis world by surprise by winning three Grand Slams during the year 2011. Except at the Roland Garros, he had been absolutely destructive at the other three slam venues that year. He had made legends like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal look ordinary and people all of a sudden started backing him to dominate the men’s category for at least the next 3-4 years, but, it wasn’t to be.

The Serbian didn’t have a year like 2011 again. He won a couple of slams in 2012 too and one slam in 2013. He is still the no. 2 player in the world, but, the way he had dominated in 2011, people haven’t seen that kind of domination again from him.

Djokovic’s biggest problem in the last couple of years has been his tendency of not rising to the occasion. He makes it to the final or semi final round of almost all the majors and then on the big day, he fails to lift his game. Out of the last 6 Grand Slam finals that he has played, he has just managed to win one. This is really concerning for a player of his potential.

Djokovic needs to realize that he must make the opportunities count if he has to include himself in the list of legends. If he doesn’t do that, he would just be remembered as a good player, not great.

The no. of Grand Slam singles title won by Djokovic so far in his career is 6. That number could easily have been 10 if Djokovic had won most of his finals in the recent past.

The Serbian is 27 years of age at the moment which means he is going through the peak time of his career. This is the time when he can win titles regularly and dominate the world. This is the time for him to convert himself from a good player to a great player.