Motherhood has brought Victoria Azarenka personal joy while reinforcing professional goals.
Azarenka, who gave birth to son Leo on December 19th, plans to return to the pro circuit for this summer's US Open Series with a purpose.
More: Azarenka Will Return With Michael Joyce As Coach
Ultimately, the former No. 1 is aiming to regain the top spot.
"I don’t want to come back and just play. I want to come back and be the best again," Azarenka told Tennis Channel's Mary Carillo and Lindsay Davenport in a telephone interview today. "That’s my goal."
The 27-year-old Azarenka said motherhood has changed her outlook on life.
"The emotion, the feeling, it's kind of hard to describe," Azarenka said. "The life, to me, is more meaningful."
A year ago, Azarenka swept the Sunshine double defeating Serena Williams in the Indian Wells final and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the Miami championship match. Earlier this month, Azarenka hired Michael Joyce as her new coach. Joyce formerly coached Maria Sharapova.
Azarenka said she resumed training three weeks ago in her native Belarus and is taking time develop a more complete game.
"I don’t call it a comeback, just to continue my career and I want to get everything better from movement to shot selection to technique to improve my serve," Azarenka told Tennis Channel. "I feel like last year you could see improvement on my serve. This is one direct (improvement) I’ve already taken last year. This is heading toward that goal of getting my game stronger.
"Physically, I want to be stronger and just overall I always look to improve. I talk to Michael a lot and he has great ideas I was very interested to listen to. We kind of clicked right away with what we wanted to do and now it's time to start adding all components to the game. I feel even though I was a pretty complete player I have a lot to work on."
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