The Australian Open is rapidly approaching, a tournament at which Aryna Sabalenka has enjoyed superb recent success.
Sabalenka won the Australian Open in both 2023 and 2024, before losing the 2025 final to American ace Madison Keys.
The Belarusian also won the doubles title at the Australian Open in 2021, having won the 2019 US Open in the same format.
But WTA number one Sabalenka certainly isn’t the only multiple winner of the Grand Slam, which returns to Melbourne in January.
Victoria Azarenka almost stopped playing tennis before winning the Australian Open
Margaret Court, Serena Williams and Martina Navratilova are among those on that list, along with Victoria Azarenka.
Remarkably, however, it almost didn’t happen for the Belarusian, who said on the Tennis Insider Club podcast last June: “I almost stopped playing tennis before I won my Australian Open.
“I was just not having fun. I felt like I worked really hard, the pressure was coming, and also those doubts. Okay I was, I would say top 20, and I was like, I don’t know if I can do it.
“It’s not like I didn’t have any results, but the grind and the pressure of just going and trying to prove people was getting to me.
“But the most important was I wasn’t having fun. I missed my family, I missed my friends, everything. I called my mom, and I said, ‘Mom, I’m not sure I want to do that. It just doesn’t feel good’. She says, ‘What are you going to do?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, I’ll go to school’. And she laughed in my face.”
Azarenka seemingly made the correct decision to continue, winning the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013.
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Victoria Azarenka’s fantastic WTA career stats
Azarenka’s two career Grand Slam titles arrived at the Australian Open, where she won finals against Maria Sharapova and Li Na.
The hard-court specialist also reached three US Open finals, where she lost once to Naomi Osaka and twice to Serena Williams.
Azarenka, who reached number one in the WTA Tour rankings, has also lost four Grand Slam doubles finals.
| Year | Result | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Win | 2012 | Australian Open | Hard | Maria Sharapova | 6–3, 6–0 |
| Loss | 2012 | US Open | Hard | Serena Williams | 2–6, 6–2, 5–7 |
| Win | 2013 | Australian Open | Hard | Li Na | 4–6, 6–4, 6–3 |
| Loss | 2013 | US Open | Hard | Serena Williams | 5–7, 7–6(8–6), 1–6 |
| Loss | 2020 | US Open | Hard | Naomi Osaka | 6–1, 3–6, 3–6 |
Now 36, the veteran has fallen to 134th in the world, but she is among the most decorated lower-ranked players with 21 titles.
Remarkably, her fellow Belarusian Sabalenka almost quit tennis, but she’s now world number one with four Grand Slam titles to her name.
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