Victoria Azarenka and her German support team want to build on old successes. From Monday the former world number one will start at the 3rd Mallorca Open.
By Ulrike Weinrich from Santa Ponsa/Majorca
Victoria Azarenka has long been infected by the Mallorca virus. “This island suits me in every way. I fell in love with Mallorca last year, the food, the people – and everything. For example, it’s wonderful to walk along the beach,” said the former number one, who will start at the Mallorca Open (starting Monday) with her Protected Ranking (No. 6).
But “Vika” doesn’t have much time for free time. Together with coach Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh, who once trained Angelique Kerber, and hitting partner Sebastian Sachs, an integral part of the Fed Cup team, Azarenka prepared intensively for the 250,000 euro lawn tournament in Santa Ponsa in the southwest of the sunny island.
The two-time Grand Slam winner from Belarus did not want to reveal too much about the agreed goals with her “German” team. Instead, Azarenka said with a smile and a wink on Sunday noon: “I expect them to work very hard with me, be punctual and treat me nicely”. A little more seriously she added: “It works very well with the two. It’s about improving and making progress. I hope I can show that in the next matches.”
In Mallorca, Azarenka has rented a house for her almost one-and-a-half year old son Leo and her brother’s family. Due to a custody dispute with her American ex-boyfriend Billy McKeague, a golf instructor from the island of Hawaii, the current world ranking-86th had not been allowed to leave the state of California, where she has her main residence, for eight months and had therefore not played any tournaments. Only in March the 28-year-old had celebrated her comeback.