Azarenka

Victoria Azarenka's quest to join an elite group of major-winning mums has fallen short with her Australian Open...

"It's not a great feeling right now to digest, but give me a couple hours and I can have probably a better outlook on this month in Australia," Azarenka said. She felt that once the initial disappointment of missing the final lifted she would reflect positively on her tournament. As a consolation Azarenka will jump from world No.24 back into the top 20 on the back of her Open run. "I'm proud of myself how I fought and I tried, but tennis-wise I felt I just wasn't there, especially in the important moments." The frustrated veteran felt she didn't make the most of her opportunities. Azarenka showed her fighting spirit to match Wimbledon champion Rybakina in the first set to push it to a tie-break.

Before the match, Azarenka walked onto Rod Laver Arena wearing a Paris Saint Germain football jersey but was swiftly told by umpire Alison Hughes to remove it.

“But I can still step on the court in what I want to step on the court. My son wore the white jersey today to his practice, and I tried to wear a white jersey to my match but couldn’t. “I don’t know what you want me to answer. The demonstration, which followed Djokovic’s win over Andrey Rublev on Wednesday night, was a critical discussion point, however, Azarenka, who is playing under a neutral flag as Belarusian player, batted away the series of questions. “I think it’s the issue with the sponsorships. I guess the logos are too big …

The former Australian Open champion fired up when asked about the furore over footage of Novak Djokovic's father with a group of Putin supporters.

“I don’t know what you want me to answer. “Are you a politician? Are you covering politics?” “I don’t know what you guys want us to do about it. “ Whatever the answer I’m going to give to you right now, it’s going to be turned whichever way you want to turn it. “I don’t know what it has to do with Novak at all, to be fair,” Azarenka said.

Victoria Azarenka was asked by the chair umpire to take off her shirt before the Australian Open semi-final. Read more here.

Self-described "obnoxious soccer mom" Victoria Azarenka was ordered to take off her Paris St Germain shirt at the Australian Open on Thursday before bowing ...

"But give me a couple of hours and I can have probably a better outlook on this month in Australia. "I think it's the issue with the sponsorships. I guess the logos are too big ...

Melbourne: Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina advanced to her second major final on Thursday, defeating former No.1 Victoria Azarenka 7-6(4), ...

A clean return winner at 5-2, 30-40 gave the 33-year-old one break back, but Rybakina closed out the match on her return. Having lost just one set in the tournament, Rybakina proved a formidable front-runner. But the Wimbledon champion broke straight back and settled herself on serve to lead 4-3 after 24 minutes.

The tennis tournament has been hit by controversy over the past 24 hours with a number of fans supporting Russia's war on Ukraine during Djokovic's win over ...

We continue to work closely with event security and law enforcement agencies.' I don't know what you want me to answer. Are you covering politics? Are you a politician? Does it frustrate you, particularly last night, for example, there was a clear sort of pro-Russian demonstration happening within the grounds of the tournament, that these people are coming and using the Australian Open as a platform for these kind of demonstrations. These incidents that in my opinion have nothing to do with players, but somehow you keep dragging players into it. I just asked him what was the accident [sic]. Do you think about it? Is it difficult for you when you go out there to put all those things out of your mind? Q. The man was also wearing a pro-war 'Z' symbol. [A spectator was seen wearing a 'Z' shirt](/sport/tennis/article-11675095/Fan-Australian-Open-wears-Russias-Z-war-symbol-shirt-Novak-Djokovics-match.html), which symbolises ultra-nationalist support of Vladimir Putin, while fans chanted pro-Russian songs outside the Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night.

Belarusian tennis star Victoria Azarenka has explained why she was asked to remove a shirt she wore on the court before her Australian Open semi-final ...

“But I can still step on the court in what I want to step on the court. My son wore the white jersey today to his practice, and I tried to wear a white jersey to my match but couldn’t. I don’t know what you want me to answer. “I don’t know what’s the goal here that it’s continuously brought up. “I think it’s the issue with the sponsorships. I knew those type of things,” Azarenka said in her post-match press conference.