Azarenka aiming for July return

Former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka hopes to be back on court before the US Open.

The two-time Australian Open champion gave birth to her first child, Leo, in December. In an interview with the Tennis Channel she revealed she returned to training three weeks ago.

We chatted w/ @vika7 earlier to talk motherhood & her anticipated return this summer.

Watch the full interview here:https://t.co/v9osfIiLt5 pic.twitter.com/l9Rs3UXfWj

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) March 24, 2017

She is now working with Michael Joyce, who formerly coached Maria Sharapova, and is targeting a return on hard courts in the lead-up to the final Grand Slam of the season.

“I started training about three weeks ago,” Azarenka said. “Physically I want to get my body strong, and it’s more about rebuilding the body. I’m taking enough time to be able to work on things that, as a tennis player in the off-season, you don’t have enough time to do. I want to put a few changes for myself. That’s why I’m taking a little bit of time to work on those things and be able to implement and have enough time to work on them.

“My goal, for now, is to be ready for summer, the US Open Series, and we’ll see where it goes. This is realistically where I want to start. Also if Leo is ready to travel the world, I want to be comfortable. I don’t want to rush anything. I’ve done it before after injuries and it didn’t work out well. Even though it’s a completely different story this time, I want to give myself the best opportunity. I don’t call it a comeback. It’s more a continuation of my career and going after my dreams and goals.”

Starting work on new weapons +fundamentals ???? #betterthanever #dontcallitacomeback #teamvika

A post shared by Victoria Azarenka (@vichka35) on Mar 24, 2017 at 4:06am PDT

“I want to get everything better, from movement to shot selection, shot technique, improve my serve,” Azarenka added. “I think last year you could see the improvement on my serve, and the conversion and aggressivity. This is one direction I’ve already taken last year. This is heading toward that goal of getting my game stronger.

“Physically I want to be stronger. I want to work smart to prevent injuries. Overall I’m always looking to improve. Having a different team – I spoke to Michael a lot and he had a lot of ideas that I was interested to listen to. We clicked right away with what we want to do, so now it’s time to start adding all these components to the game. Even though I was a pretty complete player, I still have a lot of things to work on.

“I have no doubt that I can improve much more. That’s why I’m taking my time to work smart and add to my game to become a better player. That’s the only reason why I want to go back and play on the tour. I don’t want to come back and just play. I want to go back and be the best again. That’s my goal.”