Eleven months ago, Victoria Azarenka was considering quitting tennis, unsure of whether she really wanted to give the sport her all. On Saturday, with a performance full of power and maturity, she became a grand slam champion and the world No1.
The 22-year-old's 6-3, 6-0 demolition of Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final here in Melbourne was as much a surprise as it was impressive. With three grand slam titles under her belt, it was expected that Sharapova would bring her experience to bear on the big occasion. But with her powerful game malfunctioning, Azarenka took advantage to record the biggest win of her career.
After falling to her knees and staring towards her player box with a look of disbelief, the reality of what she had achieved began to sink in. She is the 21st woman to top the rankings since they began in 1975 and the first woman from Belarus to do so.
"It's a dream come true," she said, having accepted the trophy from the former champion, Martina Hingis. "I have been dreaming and working so hard to win the grand slam and being No1 is a pretty good bonus for that." Having changed into a T-shirt that said "I got this" for her media commitments, Azarenka said she was looking forward to celebrating. "I think I am just going to have champagne showers," she said.
The match was billed as the battle of the screamers and the grunts reached 94.3 decibels according to the Whoo-ometer of local broadcaster Channel 7. But it was Azarenka who screamed last as another errant Sharapova backhand went astray.
"Right after the win I couldn't understand what's happening," she said. "I could not believe the tournament is over because it's been so long, this road since Sydney. I didn't have one day off so it kind of kept going, kept going and right now it still hasn't hit me that it's over and I won this. I keep enjoying it."
With so much on the line, it was no surprise to see Azarenka start poorly, with two double faults in the first game to hand Sharapova the break on the way to a 2-0 lead. In the next game, the Russian led 30-0 on the Azarenka serve, but the Belarussian dug deep to hold and, from then on, she relaxed.
How she played, though, was a revelation. From 3-3 in the first set she won nine straight games, ripping apart a below-par Sharapova with a combination of force and greater agility. The Russian's gameplan was to attack, but her radar was off – she hit 30 unforced errors – and she was completely outplayed.
The only question was whether the nerves would return for Azarenka as she tried to serve out for victory. But she saved a break point and then, when Sharapova's backhand found the net, she sank to the ground, her head in her hands.
"I was super nervous," she said. "I couldn't wait to actually go on the court and play. It was a long wait. The first two games were a little bit of a disaster, but then I kind of got the momentum going and I relaxed."
As she left the court, after signing a stack of autographs, Azarenka texted her grandmother, who, along with her mother, was responsible for giving her some perspective.
It was after she had lost a first-round match in Doha last February that Azarenka was at a crossroads, unsure whether the grind of the tennis tour, with its constant travel, was really what she wanted. It took her family to make her realise she actually had it good.
Azarenka is the fourth consecutive first-time grand slam champion on the women's side, but she said the work really begins now. "I really have to keep going the same way," she said. "It's going to be a long year. It's going to be a lot of matches. I just want to keep improving. I feel like there is no limit, if I can try my best every day, I can improve a little bit, little by little. That's my mentality, how I have been working hard. It's just going to have to stay the same."
For Sharapova, who has reached two of the past three grand slam finals, it was a second defeat, having lost to Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon last summer. The 24-year-old, who came into the event with no match practice after an ankle injury, was gracious in defeat, admitting she had been outplayed, but rueful that she had failed to produce her best.
"As in any sport, you have your good days and your tough days, and days when things don't work out the way you want them," she said. "But Victoria was better on every level today and she was just too good. From my side, I don't know, the switch just went off."