Victoria Azarenka

Name: Victoria Azarenka

Country: Belarus

Birth date and place: 31/07/1989

Gender: F

Weight: 67 kg / 148 lbs

Height: 182 cm / 6'0"

Sport: Tennis (Women's Singles, Mixed Doubles)

Nickname
Vita. (tennis.com, 17 May 2012)

Hobbies
Listening to music [especially hip-hop, rap and RnB], computers, spending time with her friends, reading. (wtatennis.com, 16 May 2012)

Occupation
Athlete

Language(s) spoken
Belarusian, English, Russian

Coach
Sam Sumyk (wtatennis.com, 16 May 2012.)

Position and style
Double-handed backhand (wtatennis.com, 16 May 2012)

Handedness
Right (wtatennis.com, 16 May 2012)

Additional information
Start of sporting career
She began playing tennis at age seven and started taking it seriously when she was nine. (wtatennis.com, 16 May 2012)

Reason for taking up this sport
"My mother worked at a tennis club and I went with her to the courts. She gave me a racquet and I started to play against the wall. After playing against it a few times a coach asked me if I wanted to play. I said "No, I'm afraid, I don't want to play," but then they took me and I started to play." (azcentral.com, 10 Mar 2009)

Hero
Roger Federer. (wtatennis.com, 16 May 2012)

Awards
In January 2012 she became the first woman from Belarus to reach world number one. (wtatennis.com, 16 May 2012)

General
PRO
She turned professional in 2003. (wtatennis.com, 16 May 2012)

DELAYED RETIREMENT
In 2010 she was seriously contemplating giving up the sport but after a talk with her mother and grandmother she changed her mind. (guardian.co.uk, 29 Jan 2012)

Previous Olympics
Beijing 2008

Source: LONDON2012.COM