22-year-old Victoria Azaranka becomes world's first racket! (PHOTO+VIDEO)
She defeated Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final 6:3, 6:0."Let my example inspire young players in my country," - Vicky has said.
The Belarusian tennis player thus made a spectacular debut in the Big Slam tournaments. Her rival, Russian tennis player with Belarusian roots Maria Sharapova, won the Big Slam tournaments three times and had much more experience, but she could not resist to Azaranka's pressure. The game lasted for 1 hour and 22 minutes.
Belarusian state leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka greeted Azaranka with victory, BELTA informs. He called her "the honour of the nation" and informed that she was rewarded with the Homeland Order of the 3rd degree.
Victoria Azaranka was born on July 31, 1989 in Minsk. She started tennis classes at 7, and improved her skills in Spain and the US. She won her first under-18 tournament in 2003. Since 2004, she played in the Big Slam tournaments for minors. In 2005, she was considered the best young player of the year. She made her debut in the tornaments for adults in 2003, and three years later she already was in the top 100. In 2009, Victoria Azaranka got to the top 10. Last year, she occupied the third place of the WTA rating. This year she played 12 games and won all of them. Victoria Azaranka will be officially pronounced the world's first racket on January 30, 2012.
Photo — Reuters, sapronov-tennis.org
