Victoria Azarenka

In an interview, Azarenka said: "Graf's Calendar Golden Slam in 1988 is my biggest motivation."

At age 15, Azarenka moved full-time to Scottsdale, Arizona, United States, from Minsk, Belarus, to train and live.

In this she was aided by National Hockey League goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and his wife, who was a friend of Azarenka's mother.

Victoria Fiodaraŭna Azarenka (born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player.

Azarenka debuted on the ITF Junior Circuit in November 2003 in Israel, winning one doubles title with countrywoman Olga Govortsova.

At Wimbledon, Azarenka reached the semifinals of the girls' competition, only to be defeated by eventual runner-up Ana Ivanovic, despite having two match points in the marathon third set.

She continued to participate in ITF tournaments in 2004, and at the end of the season she had a singles rank of 508 on the WTA Tour.

On clay, Azarenka pushed 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina to a third set in Rome, and took clay-court specialist Anabel Medina Garrigues to 9–7 in the third set in the first round at Roland Garros.

Azarenka had a successful year in 2005, winning two junior Grand Slams: the Australian (she would eventually win the seniors' competition in 2012 and 2013) and US championships.

She ended the season as the junior world No. 1 and was named the 2005 World Champion by the ITF, becoming the first Belarusian to do so.

In addition, she reached her first semifinal on the main tour in Guangzhou, China.

She went from the qualifying draw of the tournament to the main draw, where she defeated Martina Suchá and Peng Shuai, before losing to the eventual champion Yan Zi.

Junior Slam results:

In February 2006 in Memphis, Azarenka defeated her first top-20 player, Nicole Vaidišová, and defeated her second top-30 player in Jelena Janković at Miami that same year.

At the 2006 Wimbledon Championships Azarenka lost in first round to 2005 Junior Wimbledon and 2006 Junior French Open Champion and Wildcard Agnieszka Radwańska.

At the 2006 US Open, she had her first win over Myskina in the first round, and lost to Anna Chakvetadze in the third round, her best result in a Grand Slam event to that date.

In her next tournament, Azarenka reached her second pro-level semifinal in Tashkent, losing to Sun Tiantian.

She finished the year reaching the final of an ITF event in Pittsburgh, losing to Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak.

Ranked world No. 96, Azarenka began the year by playing two tournaments in Australia.

She has won three mixed doubles titles — two being major titles at the 2007 US Open with compatriot Max Mirnyi and the 2008 French Open with Bob Bryan, and the third being the Olympic gold medal in mixed doubles at the 2012 London Olympics with Mirnyi.

Azarenka was born in Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union, to Alla and Fedor Azarenka.

Her tennis idol is German former player Steffi Graf.

Azarenka has won 10 WTA Tour doubles titles (including one WTA 1000, two Premier Mandatory, and two Premier 5 titles), reached four major finals in women's doubles, and reached a career-high ranking of No. 7 in the world on 7 July 2008.

She finished with a year-end top 10 singles ranking for five consecutive years between 2009 and 2013.

She was the runner-up at the 2011 WTA Finals to Petra Kvitová, reached four other major singles semifinals (Australian Open in 2023, Wimbledon in 2011 and 2012, and the French Open in 2013), and had nine other major quarterfinal appearances.

Azarenka is a former world No. 1 in singles, having claimed the top ranking for the first time on 30 January 2012.

She was the year-end No. 1 in 2012 and has held the top ranking for a combined total of 51 weeks.

Azarenka has won 21 WTA Tour singles titles, including two Major singles titles at the 2012 and 2013 Australian Opens, becoming the first Belarusian player, male or female, to win a major singles title.

Azarenka is also a three-time major finalist at the US Open, finishing runner-up to Serena Williams in both 2012 and 2013 and to Naomi Osaka in 2020.

In 2012, she became registered in Monaco, but in August 2013 she purchased a large ocean-overlooking house in Manhattan Beach, California as her principal residence.

Azarenka dated American musician Redfoo between late 2012 and early 2014.

Azarenka has spoken openly about her experience of depression during her injury-induced absence from professional tennis in 2014.

In singles, she has won six Premier Mandatory tournaments (including the Sunshine Double in 2016), four Premier 5 tournaments, and the singles bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

Azarenka and former boyfriend Billy McKeague have one son, Leonard born in 2016.

Immediately after 2017 Wimbledon, they split and became involved in a custody battle for their son.

Azarenka then withdrew from the remaining 2017 tournaments.

In January 2018, Azarenka won an early round of the U.S. custody proceedings when a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that the custody case of their U.S.-born son should not take place in Los Angeles, but in Belarus.

In April 2018, Azarenka returned to the tour, competing in Europe.

In December 2018, the California Courts of Appeal ruled that the LA County Superior Court had jurisdiction over the case, overturning the initial LA County Superior Court Belarus-jurisdiction decision.

In March 2022, Azarenka released a statement on Twitter to state her heartbreak concerning the "actions that have taken place" (the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, aided by her native Belarus), and "declare[d] her dismay and great sadness at the events" in Ukraine, saying: "I have always seen … Ukrainian and Belarusian people [and] nations … friendly and supportive of one another. It is hard to witness the violent separation that is currently taking place instead of supporting and finding compassion for each other."