Victoria Azarenka withdraws from Sony Open with foot injury

Victoria Azarenka was in obvious pain during her loss to Lauren Davis. (Jeff Gross/AP) No. 4 Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Sony Open with an injury

Courtney Nguyen | Mar 12, 2014

Victoria Azarenka withdraws from Sony Open with foot injury /

Victoria Azarenka was in obvious pain during her loss to Lauren Davis. (Jeff Gross/AP)

No. 4 Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Sony Open with an injury for the second year in a row.

A two-time champion in Miami, Azarenka is still recovering from a foot injury she suffered before the Australian Open. After losing to Lauren Davis 6-0, 7-6 (2) in her opening match at the BNP Paribas Open last week, Azarenka described the injury as "nerve damage" and she was unable to say she was practicing pain-free.

Azarenka wore a walking boot for three weeks in February and returned to the practice court only a week before Indian Wells. She chose to play the tournament to test the injury, but it became immediately clear that she was nowhere fit enough to compete.

Published Mar 12, 2014

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.