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Following her first-round victory at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships, former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka discussed bringing back the use of headbands in women's tennis.
Azarenka, the No. 15 seed, advanced to the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament on Monday, February 20 by defeating Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 7-5 at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre.
Following that, Victoria Azarenka attended a press conference where she was asked why she wears headbands while playing. She responded that while she likes to think of herself as a "trendsetter" for reintroducing headbands in women's tennis, she was inspired by players like Mary Pierce and Gisela Dulko, who did it before her.
"I mean, I want to think of myself as a little bit of a trendsetter. I wasn't the first one who wore the bandana, for sure. I was inspired by Mary Pierce. I felt like I've brought that back. There was another player, Gisela Dulko from Argentina, who wore quite a lot of that," Azarenka said.
The Belarussian added that because her sponsor Nike was not initially producing the headbands, she began wearing men's headbands inspired by Rafael Nadal. However, Nike soon began making headbands for girls, and she thought it was a "cool look" -- a "warrior type," that suited her personality quite well.
"Nike weren't making them. I started asking them, Can you start making them for me? I started with the men's bandanas because Rafa [Nadal] used to play with them all the time. They started making the girl's ones. It felt like that catched [sic] on," Azarenka said.
"I think it's a cool look. A little bit like a warrior type. It fits my personality quite well, I think," she added.
"Today was a good win, but definitely some things to work on" - Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka then reflected on her win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, saying that while she was "happy" to get the win, she didn't feel particularly "comfortable." Adding that she gradually found her way to victory, Azarenka was content with the final result, which she felt was "very good," especially given that she wasn't playing her "best."
"Yeah, I mean, happy to win, for sure. I felt that a bit too many ups and downs today. I didn't really feel that comfortable to lead and then kind of go back and try to restart," Azarenka said.
"I mean, I know it's part of the game, it's part of tennis. But, yeah, I just wanted to kind of close it out a bit earlier. Finding the way to win, it's also very good, especially when you're maybe not playing you're best," she added.
The World No. 14 then hailed her Russian opponent and admitted that despite the "good win," she still has some things to work on.
"But, yeah, Nastia [Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova] is a great player. I'm really happy to see her back. Yeah, today was a good win, but definitely some things to work on," Azarenka said.
