8 Reasons why Azarenka won the Australian Open 2012

There were plenty of reasons why Victoria Azarenka won her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open 2012. She finished last season on a high note as runner-up to Petra Kvitova at the WTA Championships, she trained hard over the off-season, won her warm-up tournament at Sydney,and of course, she always had the hunger for success to go with her talent and big game. There were also a lot of things that went her way, including her favorable hard-court record against Maria Sharapova, and playing against an injured Kim Clijsters. This list is a not-so-serious look at Azarenka’s really serious achievement of winning her first Grand Slam and becoming the world’s #1 woman tennis player.

8 Reasons why Azarenka won the Australian Open 2012

Reason #8. Azarenka used the money she earned from Sydney to super-motivate (a.k.a. bribe) Ekaterina Makarova to dispatch Serena Williams in the 4th round. After all, it was Williams who have dealt losses to Azarenka in 2009 and 2010 in Melbourne.

Reason #7. Azarenka didn’t want to lose a Grand Slam final the way fellow Belarusian Natalia Zvereva did during the French Open in 1988. Zvereva was double-bageled by Steffi Graf. When Azarenka lost the first 2 games of the match, she wanted to win just one game. She was so focused on getting to the scoreboard that she won 12 of the next 13 games.

Reason #6. Azarenka wanted Maria Sharapova’s multiple million dollar sponsorships. She couldn’t do anything about out-appealing Sharapova, so she decided to out-scream and out-play the Russian. (She did, but I highly doubt she’ll get the endorsements as well.)

Reason #5. Azarenka desperately wanted the #1 ranking, but she wanted to have it in a valid way – by actually beating the best players at the biggest stages of tennis – i.e. win a Grand Slam. So she became the 21st player ever to achieve the #1 ranking, and she did it in style. (It was the opposite for how the 18th – Jelena Jankovic, 19th – Dinara Safina, and 20th – Caroline Wozniacki, players to have gotten the #1 achieved the top ranking.)

Reason #4. Azarenka needed the extra money to help long-time friend Nikolai Khabibulin of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. Khabibulin helped finance Azarenka’s training when her family couldn’t afford it, and Azarenka was returning the favor for Khabibulin who spent a half-month in jail last year due to a DUI conviction.

Reason #3. In the finals, a different Sharapova showed up. It was not the Sharapova-of-the-three-grand-slam-titles-and-former-number-one who played. Rather, it was more of the Sharapova-who-couldn’t-win-a-tournament-like-Anna-Kournikova player that showed up at Rod Laver Arena.

Reason #2. An online petition filed by 99% of tennis fans who did not agree with Caroline Wozniacki being ranked #1 in women’s tennis despite not EVEN REACHING A SINGLE GRAND SLAM FINAL! The highly emotional online petition that threatened to boycott WTA tournaments around the globe found its way to the lockers of the three semifinalists – Azarenka, Sharapova, and Kvitova. Kvitova saw the petition after losing a hotly contested semifinal to Sharapova and in her anger ripped out the copies intended for her and Sharapova. And so, only Azarenka got to read the contents of the petition.

Reason #1. The Medusa-like glare which Kim Clijsters kept throwing at her during their semifinal match mutated Azarenka into a super-player that could bagel Sharapova in a Grand Slam final set. Now, not even Serena with mom Oracene as coach can match that.

Can anyone think of two more reasons? I wanted a list of 10 reasons for why Azarenka won the Australian Open 2012.