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Monday, January 23, 2012

Azarenka gets Aggressive to beat Radwanska and Move to the Semis

Victoria Azarenka just provided a great lesson for all tennis players in her three-set victory over Agnieszka Raswanska. Azarenka lost the first set in a tiebreak 7-0. She responded by doing two mental strategies:
1. Having short-term memory, letting go of the loss and focusing on the second set, and,
2. Persuading herself to be aggressive.

I loved the way Azarenka responded to Radwanska's tie-breaker shutout. She turned up the intensity, hit with more aggression, and came to the net. On match point Azarenka crushed two overheads to finish off Radwanska. Victoria played with fearlessness and conviction. This is exactly the response you want from your player; to commit to the battle and go for the shots instead of backing down or focusing on their negative emotions.

Fearlessness and conviction to play aggressive tennis is what is needed to win a Grand Slam. If Azarenka can repeat this attitude against Clijsters or Wozniacki and then likely Kvitova she will win the Australian Open.

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