Belarusian Viktoria Azarenka inexplicably broke down in tears mid-match and couldn’t resume play for several minutes in their 6-3, 6-4 loss to Kazakh Elena Rybakina on Monday in the WTA Third Round 1000 from Indian Wells.
Two days after the tears of the Japanese Naomi Osaka, injured by an insult to her place pronounced by a person in the public, another tear episode, just as trying and, it is clear that it is less and less unusual, occurred. on this same center court.
Azarenka, double winner of the event (2012, 2016), burst into tears after a double fault committed at 2-2 in the second set.
Hand on her eyes to vainly prevent the tears from flowing, squatting with her head down as if to hide her distress, she suddenly worried the spectators, her opponent and the main referee, got down from her chair to go to meet her and ask her if everything was fine.
“Do you need help?” she asked him, and Azarenka responded three times, “I’m sorry,” without saying more.
“No, it’s not normal”
Rybakina then asked the referee what was going on. “I was just checking that she was okay,” she replied. “Okay, but is this normal?” asked the Kazakh. “No, it’s not normal. This is the first time this has happened,” said the referee.
The match finally resumed and the former world No.1 was able to finish it, hastening to leave the court, greeting the spectators who warmly applauded her.
Impossible to know if the problem was therefore physical – a possibility because Azarenka, finalist last year, had straps around his right shoulder – or mental, in a difficult context linked to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, of which Belarus is an ally.
As a Belarusian, like the Russians, she was authorized by the tennis authorities to participate in the Indian Wells tournament without mentioning her country and its flag. Before the start of the tournament, she said on Twitter that she was “devastated” for those affected by the war and wanted the conflict to end quickly.