The last remaining mother in the US Open singles draw keeps on inspiring.
By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday September 11, 2020
Victoria Azarenka will carry the torch for the nine mothers that entered the women’s singles main draw at the 2020 US Open, and she hopes to have the success that fellow mother Vera Zvonareva had on the doubles court.
36-year-old Zvonareva, who paired with Laura Siegemund in the women’s doubles draw, claimed her third major doubles title on Friday.
Azarenka, who will make her return to a Grand Slam final for the first time since 2013, also hopes to win her third major singles title. Whether she gets it done or not, she’s already inspired a generation of woman by reaching the final. On Saturday she’ll bid to become the fourth mother to win a Grand Slam singles title, joining Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong and Kim Clijsters.
Mothers to win Grand Slam Singles Titles:
Margaret Court: 1973 Australian Open, Roland Garros, US Open
Evonne Goolagong: 1980 Wimbledon
Kim Clijsters: 2009, US Open, 2010 US Open, 2011 Australian Open.
Azarenka says she wants to inspire woman to go for their dreams, and adds that if they can handle being a mother, they can handle anything.
“I hope it just hopefully inspires women to go after their dreams,” she said on court after defeating Serena Williams 1-6 6-3 6-3 on Thursday night in New York. “I feel like you can’t always identify yourself as just one thing, you have many things you can do in your life. Being a parent is to me the most important thing in my life but I’m a tennis player on the court, I’m a fighter on the court I want to go after my dreams, my personal dreams, inspire my child. And I hope that women around the world know that they can do anything because being a parent is the toughest thing so once you can balance that you can do anything.”
Azarenka later told reporters that getting rid of her big ego played a significant role in her success. It's another solid reason to look up to the 31-year-old who has risen to the top of the sport once again after going through years of personal adversity.
“I could continue to stay on my high horse or I could just change it and learn from that,” she said. “I just feel I'm very proud of myself that I took that challenge up from losing and turn it around and become better. I'm not talking about a better tennis player. I'm talking about a better person for myself, for my son. That's what I'm most proud of.”
