Miami Open | Victoria Azarenka gives up in the middle of the match and says she wants to “take a break”

(Miami) Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, who retired in the middle of a match on Sunday, leaving 16-year-old Czech Linda Fruhvirtova to advance in 8^and of the WTA 1000 finals in Miami, apologized and said she wanted to “take a break”, citing the “extremely stressful last few weeks”.

“I shouldn’t have entered the court today. The past few weeks have been extremely stressful in my personal life. The last game wore me out so much, but I wanted to play in front of a big crowd because it helped me out in my first game. I wanted to try, but it was a mistake,” Azarenka wrote in a statement.

The 16^and world is indeed going through a difficult period. In Indian Wells two weeks ago, she inexplicably broke down in tears during her match against Kazakh Elena Rybakina, but ended it with a 6-3, 6-4 loss.

She then closed her accounts on the networks and did not reappear until Friday in Miami, where she fought to beat 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5) the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (54^and).

The Belarusian, who, like her compatriots and the Russians, plays without mention of her country or representation of her flag, according to a directive from tennis authorities in response to the war in Ukraine, was one of the few sportswomen from her country to openly condemn this conflict initiated by Vladimir Putin.

Fruhvirtova in disbelief, but happy

“I hope to take a break and be able to come back”, she added, saying to herself “sorry for what happened”.

“I always look forward to the challenge of competition and the pressure that comes with it, but today was too much. I must and will learn from this. I want to congratulate my opponent and wish him good luck for this tournament and the start of his professional career,” she concluded.

Linda Fruhvirtova became the youngest player to reach 8^and in Miami since Maria Sharapova and Tatiana Golovin in 2004, did not mask his disbelief when he saw Azarenka leave the court.

“I don’t know what happened in the end. It was an honor to play against her. You never want to end the match this way, but it does happen. We shook hands and then she left,” she told AFP.

Until then, the 279^and world champion, who has an invitation, flew over the proceedings in the face of her eldest, very frustrated, who often shouted her anger on the court and threw her racket on the ground, before making her abrupt decision after being trailed 6-2 , 3-0.

For Fruhvirtova, sensation of the Florida tournament, the adventure continues. In the next round, she will be opposed to one of the favorites of the event, the Spaniard Paula Badosa (6^and).