"Victoria Azarenka always had the mentality of wanting to win no matter what" - Sascha Bajin

On the latest episode of The Functional Tennis Podcast, renowned tennis coach Sascha Bajin showered praise on Victoria Azarenka, hailing her hunger to win as her most valuable asset.

Following his stint as Serena Williams' hitting partner, the 37-year-old partnered up with Azarenka. He joined Azarenka's team as her hitting partner after an injury-plagued 2014 season saw her drop to as low as World No. 50.

Despite the setback, Bajin remarked that the Belarusian had incredible resilience. He lauded her mentality of wanting to win irrespective of the odds, a trait he had previously observed in Serena Williams.

"Victoria Azarenka always had this resilience, like Serena Williams," Bajin said. "The one thing that stood out about Azarenka was her 'wanting to win no matter what' situation."

The German further pointed out that Azarenka's mentality shone through even during training sessions.

Bajin added that the former World No. 1 exhibited the same hunger to win, irrespective of whether it was practice sessions of squash or something as mundane as cards.

"She had this mentality that really came about even if we were just playing squash [in training], and that was something I found interesting," Bajin said. "She had the hunger [to win] in anything; Squash, cards, anything."

During Bajin's stint with Azarenka between 2015-16, the Belarusian won titles in Brisbane, Miami and Indian Wells.

Constant injuries have thwarted Victoria Azarenka's return to the top 10

A late flourish in 2021 saw Victoria Azarenka reach the final of the Indian Wells Masters

The last time Victoria Azarenka was in the top 10 of the WTA rankings was in September 2016. A knee injury sustained during her first-round match at the 2016 French Open forced her to retire from the tournament.

The Belarusian announced her pregnancy on 15 July 2016, and did not return to competitive tennis until Wimbledon in 2017. Her ranking had slipped to World No. 978 by that time, but she fought her way back to finish the year at 210.

Since then, Azarenka has displayed the resilience that Bajin gushed about. Within the next three years, the two-time Australian Open champion returned to the top 20 and ended 2020 as the World No. 13, courtesy of a run to the US Open final.

But just when it looked like Azarenka would enter the top 10 again, she was afflicted with a lower-back injury at the 2021 Qatar Open. Additional issues with form pulled her WTA ranking all the way down to No. 35.

However, a late-season resurgence that included reaching the final at Indian Wells will see Azarenka start 2022 as World No. 27.