Azarenka: I Can Regain Top Spot

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Azarenka: I Can Regain Top Spot

A second straight first-round French Open exit has not diminished Victoria Azarenka's belief she can return to the top of tennis.

Katerina Siniakova stopped Azarenka, 7-5, 7-5, on Court 18 today.

Watch: Kvitova Rises, Azarenka Falls

Asked afterward if she regain the top spot, Azarenka replied: "No doubt about it. Maybe not today, but no doubt about it."

Clay has never been Azarenka's preferred surface. She suffered her fifth opening-round exit in 11 career appearances in Paris.

The 84th-ranked Azarenka, who reached the Wimbledon fourth round in her Grand Slam return last year, plans to play grass events Mallorca and Wimbledon as she aims to rebuild her ranking.

"I think the personal expectations for me are always high," Azarenka told the media in Paris. "And coming here I was trying to be a little bit more realisitic and take it one day at a time.

"I had some good practice days, finally, after Rome. It didn't come out on the court today even though I'm doing good things in practice I'm not able to transfer it to the match. I really need to take a look at what I can do better. Right now, it's not working."

The two-time Australian Open champion missed the second half of the 2017 season as well as the first two months of the 2018 season due to a custody case with her ex-boyfriend Billy McKeague, who is the father of their son Leo.

Azarenka was forced to withdraw from both the 2017 US Open and the 2018 Australian Open because she could not take 17-month Leo out of the state of California without his father.

The former couple worked out an arrangment that allows Azarenka to play the entire spring season in Europe.

After losing to Sloane Stephens at Indian Wells in March, Azarenka said she was surprised she was able to keep it together while coping the stress of the custody case.

"You know, this whole process, honestly, amazes me that I still have my shit together, to be honest,” Azarenka said in Indian Wells. "I really am surprised that the challenges that I have been put through and I'm still going through is—I wouldn't expect myself to be this calm and this positive and this optimistic for this long period of time.

"So there is definitely a lot of things and a lot of strength that I'm finding myself outside of the court. And I need to get, you know, confidence back because there is no other way than going out there and failing, getting up, failing, getting up, but just working hard."

Photo credit: Roland Garros

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