Wimbledon bombarded with complaints about Azarenka. What pissed off the British so much?

Women’s tennis is impossible to watch indifferently. Even at first glance, ordinary matches can turn into an emotional drama.

In the third round of Wimbledon 2011, Victoria Azarenka, in her usual manner, reacted to every ball rally, but this caused a strong reaction from the stiff British public.

Even the management of the oldest tennis tournament intervened in the matter …

On the way to great victories

Now the status of Victoria Azarenka in the tennis world is respected. The ex-first racket of the world won two Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open-2012, 2013), the gold of the 2012 Olympics in mixed doubles with Maxim Mirny and many WTA tour competitions.

But in 2011, the career of the then 21-year-old Belarusian athlete was just beginning to accelerate. In the spring, Vika got into the top 5 of the world ranking for the first time and came to Wimbledon in the status of one of the favorites. And she managed to show another breakthrough – for the first time she reached the semifinals of the Grand Slam tournament, where she lost to the future winner Petra Kvitova.

However, Azarenka showed herself most clearly in the third round match against the Slovak tennis player Daniela Hantukhova. By that time, Vika had already established herself as one of the loudest athletes on the tour – in the first round she made a sound with a power of 95 decibels, which was only slightly short of Maria Sharapova’s record of 105 decibels.

Victoria Azarenka / Photo: © Getty Images

Against the background of the quiet cries of Hantukhova, Azarenka’s voice sounded even more convincing, and outwardly it looked extremely anecdotal. The match itself was full of errors, so the quality of the game faded into the background. The audience laughed at what was happening and openly laughed at the actions of Azarenka.

Shouting is part of a successful career

Even before the start of that Wimbledon, the Belarusian athlete admitted that such screams are part of her respiratory system. This reaction allows her to develop more power while hitting the ball, so she is not going to change her approach.

However, the more she squealed, the more the British laughed, and to increase the reaction, the audience began to rock the seats in the stands, which caused a characteristic creak, similar to the exclamations of Azarenka. The match turned into a real absurdity.

Photo: © Mike Hewitt / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

This unusual situation has not gone unnoticed. Wimbledon chief executive Ian Ritchie said he sympathizes with fans who are bombarding him with letters complaining about the problem, but he is powerless to do anything about it:

“We have discussed this with the tour participants and we believe that it would be useful to reduce the number of such shouts,” he said.

Vika won that match, and in the next she developed her success. So such a reaction to the draws, apparently, really helps Azarenka achieve results. After 13 years, she is still in business and again performs at the most prestigious grass tournament in the world. In the match against Argentina’s Podoroski, she will fight for a place in the third round, where our Daria Kasatkina is already waiting for her opponent.