"I feel like I've brought that back" - Victoria Azarenka on revitalizing headbands in women's tennis

Following her first-round victory at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka discussed bringing back the use of headbands in women's tennis.

Azarenka, the No. 15 seed, advanced to the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament on Monday, February 20 by defeating Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 7-5 at the Aviation Club Tennis Center.

Following that, Victoria Azarenka attended a press conference where she was asked why she wears headbands while playing. She responded that while she likes to think of herself as a "trendsetter" for reintroducing headbands in women's tennis, she was inspired by players like Mary Pierce and Gisela Dulko, who did it before her.

"I mean, I want to think of myself as a little bit of a trendsetter," Azarenka said. "I wasn't the first one who wore the bandana, for sure. I was inspired by Mary Pierce. I felt like I've brought that back. There was another player, Gisela Dulko from Argentina, who wore quite a lot of that."

The Belarusian added that because her sponsor Nike was not initially producing the headbands, she began wearing men's headbands inspired by Rafael Nadal. However, Nike soon began making headbands for girls, and she thought it was a "cool look" -- a "warrior type," that suited her personality quite well.

"Nike weren't making them," she revealed. "I started asking them, Can you start making them for me? I started with the men's bandanas because Rafa [Nadal] used to play with them all the time. They started making the girl's ones. It felt like that catched [sic] on.

"I think it's a cool look. A little bit like a warrior type. It fits my personality quite well, I think."