Victoria Azarenka has begun to work with Sascha Bajin, the former hitting partner of Serena Williams for eight years, and the two have quite clearly hit the ground running, both professionally and, well, shall we say socially?
While Azarenka, who is finally starting to rise up the rankings again after a 2014 that was marred by stops and starts due to injury, is clearly the boss of the social media banter between the two (as exhibited by the above tweet), the Belarussian says that Bajin’s contribution is invaluable on the practice court.
“He has the ability to really push me, and that's what I need,” Azarenka said after her first-round win in Miami over Silvia Soler-Espinosa. “I need to be pushed. I need to take myself out of my comfortable zone to grow again, to improve, and I believe he can do that.”
Azarenka, currently ranked 36, will face Jelena Jankovic in the second round at Miami. Though she was asked how she felt about her chanced of returning to the Top 10 this season, she said that being No. 1 again is all she’s really concerned with.
“Most important for me is just one number: I'm trying to be at No. 1,” Azarenka said. “I don't want to settle for anything else. It's going to be a long road. I think the patience is the most probably frustrating thing. I know the level I play at. I just need to make sure I can do that every single match and build my match endurance, my match confidence back up there. “But I'm just looking for where I am right now, and I just have to go through it one more time to get the rankings. But I feel that my level is getting better and better, and I think that will help me reach my goal.”