Victoria Azarenka: Olympic medals better than No. 1 ranking

Victoria Azarenka beat Maria Kirilenko for the Olympic bronze medal. (Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images) Victoria Azarenka told the Belarusian Telegraph Agency that

Courtney Nguyen | Apr 10, 2013

Victoria Azarenka: Olympic medals better than No. 1 ranking /

Victoria Azarenka beat Maria Kirilenko for the Olympic bronze medal. (Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images)

Victoria Azarenka told the Belarusian Telegraph Agency that she covets her Olympic singles bronze medal and mixed doubles gold medal over any position in the rankings.

“I think one cannot compare the Olympic medals with the first position in the WTA rankings. During the 2012 Olympic Games I experienced totally different emotions. I think I was more glad when I got the singles bronze than when I snatched the Olympic doubles gold. After the semifinal defeat in the singles it was extremely difficult to get back to the court and play the third-place match in only 12 or 13 hours. I never thought I sacrificed the silver or a gold medal to secure the doubles success because from the start I aimed to play and reach the best possible result in both events. The Olympic Games is the competition I will never forget. The WTA ranking for me is only a bonus in addition to my victories,” Victoria Azarenka noted.

Azarenka, now No. 3 behind Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, hasn't played a match since a fourth-round win in Indian Wells, where she later withdrew because of a right-ankle injury. While she's left open the possibility of taking a wild card into a smaller tournament early in the clay season, her schedule still lists her next tournament as Madrid in May.

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Published Apr 10, 2013

COURTNEY NGUYEN

Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.