Victoria Azarenka explains why she was wearing PSG jersey at Australian Open 2023

The former World No. 1 reached the semi-final stage at Melbourne Park.

Victoria Azarenka has explained why she wore a Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) jersey at the Australian Open 2023. The 33-year-old sported the French football giants' jersey throughout the Grand Slam tournament before bowing out in the semi-finals after a straight-sets defeat to Elena Rybakina.

Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open champion in women's singles, caught the eye of many for wearing Ligue 1 giants PSG's jersey throughout her campaign at the Australian Open 2023. The former World No. 1 also turned up at press conferences donning the PSG shirt. She later revealed that her fashion choice was because her son Leo wants to play for the French giants in the future.

"My son's dream is to play football in PSG, so I might as well be representing," Victoria Azarenka told Eurosport. She also revealed in an interview with the WTA website that she has also been supporting PSG since 2012 after David Beckham signed for the club.

“I have been supporting them (PSG) since 2012, since (David) Beckham was signed to the club. I have been a fan for a long time and been to many, many games."

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Speaking of supporting her son's dreams of becoming a footballer and representing Paris Saint-Germain, Azarenka said: “I'm a soccer mum now and I love that. I love supporting. I'm obnoxious, like absolutely the most obnoxious. I yell, but I'm very positive. I'm actually very proud because it's a completely different emotion for me to support my son. I have no shame screaming for him, like zero.”

The Belarusian athlete turned pro in 2003 and has won several titles (four grand slam titles). Australian Open has been a happy hunting tournament for Azarenka. She won both her singles Grand Slam titles here (2012 and 2013) to add to her two mixed doubles titles (2007 US Open and 2008 French Open). Azarenka started her career winning doubles and slowly started to gain success in the singles section as well.

She has a career win-loss record of (572-224) in singles and (176-69) in doubles. Victoria Azarenka first attained the World No. 1 ranking in singles after winning the Australian Open title and held on to the top spot for 51 weeks. The 2023 Australian Open semi-finalist has had a topsy-turvy time since 2014 battling injuries. 

She has made multiple good comebacks and has started the 2023 season on a bang. On her way to the semi-finals, Azarenka beat two top 10 American players (10th-seed Madison Keys in the third round and third-seed Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals). The 2023 Australian Open success should bring her back inside the WTA top 20 in the singles rankings.