“When I think about it, I think it took me a while [to get used to the elite environment]; when you look at the progression of my ranking it was quite quick, but it was a big difference for me,” Azarenka told this masthead.
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“I was pretty much an undefeated player in juniors, I had so many titles, and I was winning pretty much every tournament I played. Then … there were a lot of heartbreaks for me, but it was also where I knew I needed to step up and continue to improve to get to the next level.
“There were definitely a lot of heartbreaks for sure. You have to build resilience, you have to build experience.
“For me, the biggest difference in juniors was if I start to lead the set I was pretty much guaranteed to win that set. Then on the professional tour you can have match points and still lose, so I think that was a big lesson for me.
“If she continues to play like this she’s got a pretty good future ahead of her. She’s very aggressive, she moved really well, and she served well under pressure as well, so there are a lot of great things that she produced.”
While Joint has fallen, an Australian hope still remains in Brisbane, after Kim Birrell shocked second seed Emily Navarro 7-5, 7-5.
The Queenslander, determined to regain her place among the world’s top 100, lost in straight sets to the world No.8 when they last faced, and she believed that experience paved the way for her brutal response.
It was the calibre of win Birrell admits she feared she would never be able to replicate, after spending more than two years on the sidelines after repeated elbow surgeries threatened her career.
But that time away instead appears to have given the 26-year-old a new lease on life, as she prepares to face world No.35 Anastasia Potapova on Thursday.
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“It gave me, I guess, the chance to reflect and realise that I did really want to keep playing, and then I didn’t expect to be out for so long; that was the beginning of my injury, and then I had almost two more years of rehab ahead of me at that time,” Birrell said.
“There were definitely periods where I didn’t know if I was going to get back on court, let alone at the level I played today, so I’m really glad I persevered.
“I will definitely take a lot of confidence from today just knowing I can do it, and you always believe in yourself but to actually get wins on the board definitely helps.”