I'm a Girly Girl. but Sometimes I'm Funky and Like to Look Like a Hippie
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8 WWD TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2011 WWD TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2011 9 WWD.COM By Malene Birger’s embroidered silk top and leather shorts. Jimmy Choo pumps. EmpireVictoria Azarenka hasState big plans for her favorite city in theof world. Mind Carlo, where she currently lives, as do many other professional tennis players (Novak Djokovic, Robin Soderling, Caroline Wozniacki, Daniela Hantuchova). “There’s a reason,” Azarenka Tribune Standard’s rayon dress. David Yurman bracelets. By SARAH TAYLOR says, referring to the well-known fact that the principality is income tax-free so one cannot be taxed on prize money. SHE’S SEEDED FOURTH in this year’s U.S. Open but, as of now, Speaking of, Azarenka’s total career winnings are in the Victoria Azarenka might be most famous for these two things: her ballpark of $7.7 million. On top of that are her sponsorship extremely loud, and often lengthy, shrieks when she hits the ball, earnings from Nike, Head, Power Balance, Sport Protein Plus, and her tendency to retire from matches due to injury or fatigue. Tourna Grip and American Express. She has bought cars for Such notoriety really bugs her, and this is what she’d instead her mother and father (an Opel and a Lexus, respectively) but like you to know: She has a wicked backhand that’s helped her her older brother, a college student back in Belarus, well, “he win seven singles tournaments since she went pro at age 16. She’s needs to buy his own,” she says. “I think it’s important that he currently setting·· up two still-unnamed charities in her hometown has the motivation, and it would be more exciting for him to of Minsk, Belarus. She loves music (Beyoncé!) and clothes buy it himself.” Until then, he can always hitch a ride in his (Gucci!), and is about to make her first New York Fashion Week sister’s Porsche Cayenne, which the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix runway debut, walking in Samantha Black’s show as part of the tournament gifted her in 2009, just for participating. Style360 showcase (really nervous!). She’s also dating fellow pro As Azarenka gears up for her first-round Open match — today, tennis player Sergei Bubka Jr., who is ranked number 210 but she against Johanna Larsson — one touchy topic must be addressed: claims she can’t beat him. all those retirements. She has withdrawn from an unusually “Tennis is my first priority, but I have so many other interests, high 14 matches in her career, most notably last year’s U.S. like I want to study finance at Columbia,” Azarenka says, adding Open during which she collapsed on the court while playing in that she’s currently shopping for an apartment in New York, “her the second round, due to a fall she took warming up. So is she favorite city in the world,” to make that transition easier. “I don’t healthy? “Yes. Even though I’m 22, I’m still growing and the want to finish tennis and then go study. I want to do it now.” doctor says my body is still developing,” she says. “Plus, I didn’t have a good schedule last year. There were a lot of commitments and I couldn’t back out of some things. Right now I feel OK. You can never say you feel perfect because you damage your body I’m a girly girl. But sometimes every day on the court. But I’m getting more fit and am working on my speed and on my core.” I’m funky and like to look By now she’s clearly ready to change the subject, so the conversation returns to shopping. When her mom arrives in town later that afternoon, Saks Fifth Avenue will be one of their first like a hippie, or sometimes stops. Like any 22-year-old with major money to burn, Azarenka is not beyond the thrill of an impulse buy. A crystal tiara was one I’m classic and really modern. of her last purchases, “just for fun,” and she’s also a sucker for shoes. “Especially Louboutin and Dior,” she says. “People always — VICTORIA AZARENKA tell me I should wear flats because I’m so tall but I’m like, screw them. I love my heels.” Maybe so, but at a recent WWD photo shoot, just days before the Open starts, Azarenka is focused on one very voluminous, slit-to-there black gown. Atop the roof of the new Hotel Americano in Chelsea, a rack full of spring 2012 clothes has just been rolled VICTORIA AZARENKA, BY THE NUMBERS out. The grandiose Kaufmanfranco is her favorite, while Tribune Standard’s fringed frock and By Malene Birger’s chiffon top and U.S. Open seed: 4 leather shorts are close runners-up. “I’m a girly girl,” she says. “But sometimes I’m funky and like to look like a hippie, or Age she went pro: 16 sometimes I’m classic and really modern.” As for her U.S. Open uniform by sponsor Nike, it’s black and Twitter followers: 38,578 and counting blue — “very tight on the top and then it sort of comes·· out into a floral shape on the bottom,” she notes, adding that her “thing” is Average hours a day she trains: 4 to 5 to accessorize her outfits with fun laces. “My shoes are white and Speed of fastest serve: 115 mph black but my laces will be blue.” (Her signature hair style is three braids that connect into one in the back). Average noise level per shriek at 2011 Wimbledon: 95 decibels Azarenka, 22, first picked up a racket when she was seven. Her mother was working at a tennis center in Minsk and the young Total career prize money: $7,688,000 Azarenka would meet her there after school. One day she started hitting balls against the wall and a coach took notice. “He asked Sponsors: 6 me to join the group,” she recalls. “I was shy and said no but then I decided to try it.” It was right around then when Azarenka Weight she can bench press: 55 pounds developed that aforementioned shriek. “It started because I was so Greatest success in a Grand Slam: semifinals, 2011 Wimbledon weak as a kid and I needed the extra power,” she says. “It becomes part of your breathing and how you move. It’s like when you lift Greatest success at the U.S. Open: 4th round, 2007 weights — it becomes natural.” When asked if she’s trying to break the habit, she rolls her eyes. “No, I’m not, and I won’t stop it. It’s Pairs of tennis shoes in her closet: 6 PHOTOGRAPHED BY KYLE ERICKSEN AT HOTEL who I am and it’s part of how I play.” AMERICANO, A MEMBER OF DESIGN HOTELS; At 14, Azarenka left her family behind to train in Spain for nine Pairs of pumps in her closet: 20 STYLED BY MAYTE ALLENDE months; she signed on with her first sponsor, Nike, that same year. HAIR BY STEPHEN RAMSEY AND MAKEUP BY RYAN MCKNIGHT, BOTH AT BEATYWINGNY.COM; PHOTO ASSISTANT: EILEEN TSUJI; FASHION ASSISTANT: DOMINIQUE VOLKER ASSISTANT: EILEEN TSUJI; FASHION PHOTO ASSISTANT: BEATYWINGNY.COM; BOTH AT MCKNIGHT, RYAN AND MAKEUP BY STEPHEN RAMSEY HAIR BY She then relocated to Scottsdale, Ariz., and after that to Monte Azarenka at Wimbledon, 2011… ...the 2011 Rogers Cup, ...and the 2011 French Open. She says her fashion “thing” is colorful laces. showing off her signature braids… MAGES I HRIS ETTY C PORTS BY /S /AFP/G UP C LUETMEIER TANSALL OGERS S ; R Z K EN EIN B H BY MAGES BY I PEN ETTY LACES O /G BLUE ; RENCH ; F RUNSKILL B MAGES I MAGES LIVE I C ETTY /G BY ETTY /G IMBLEDON ROTMAN LLUSTRATED I T W.