What happened to Victoria Azarenka? The career highlights — and the year of silence since her last match
WTASunday, 16 August 2026 at 18:30
Victoria Azarenka has not played a competitive tennis match since August 2025. Almost a year later, the two-time Australian Open champion has neither announced her retirement nor provided a clear explanation for her absence.
She has missed all three Grand Slams played in 2026, her ranking has fallen into the 400s and there is still no confirmed date for a return. At 37, the silence is becoming impossible to ignore.
The situation is particularly unusual given how competitive Azarenka remained in the final stages of her career. She was still reaching the latter rounds of major tournaments and WTA events in 2023 and 2024, and had spent much of the previous decade proving that she could remain a threat against the world's best players well beyond her peak.
Now, however, one of the most recognizable players of her generation has effectively disappeared from the Tour. To understand how unusual that is — and why her absence has created so much uncertainty — it is worth looking back at the career that made Azarenka one of the defining figures of women's tennis.
Victoria Azarenka: what we know
| Last match | August 29, 2025 |
| Last opponent | Jessica Pegula |
| Last tournament | US Open |
| Current age | 37 |
| Current ranking | No. 451 |
| 2026 Grand Slams played | 0 |
| Retirement announced? | No |
| Comeback date? | None confirmed |
The highlights: a career that needs no introduction
Azarenka's résumé does not require padding. She became world No. 1 in January 2012 after winning her first major at the Australian Open, then successfully defended that title in 2013 — the only two Grand Slam singles trophies of her career, but enough to make her the first Belarusian ever to win one.
Both of her US Open final appearances that same period ended in defeat to Serena Williams, and a third US Open final followed in 2020, lost to Naomi Osaka in one of the more improbable runs of her career: an unseeded Azarenka, only a few years removed from a career-threatening custody battle that had kept her off tour, playing her way to a Grand Slam final almost out of nowhere.
Azarenka won two Grand Slam titles and reached three other finals in major tournaments.
In between, there was a 2012 London Olympics that brought a singles bronze and a mixed doubles gold alongside Max Mirnyi, and a 2016 season capped by the "Sunshine Double" — Indian Wells and Miami in the same year, a feat only Steffi Graf and Kim Clijsters had managed before her.
Twenty-one WTA singles titles, ten more in doubles, and a rivalry with Serena Williams that produced some of the most-watched matches of the 2010s round out the picture. As recently as 2023 she was still a threat deep into majors, reaching the Australian Open semi-final before losing to Elena Rybakina, and 2024 saw her post semi-final or quarter-final results at Brisbane, Miami, Berlin, Doha, Rome, Charleston and Washington — proof that even in her mid-thirties, she remained a legitimate top-30 competitor.
Victoria Azarenka career snapshot
| Achievement | Record |
| Peak ranking | No. 1 — 51 weeks |
| Grand Slam titles | 2 |
| Australian Open | Champion in 2012 & 2013 |
| US Open finals | 2012, 2013, 2020 |
| WTA singles titles | 21 |
| Olympic medals | Gold + bronze |
| Last match | August 29, 2025 |
| Current ranking | No. 451 |
The last match, and then nothing
That 2025 US Open third-round defeat to Jessica Pegula did not look, at the time, like the end of anything. Azarenka had played a reasonably full season, and there was no announcement of injury or plans to step away. She simply did not show up again.
By January 2026, when Australian Open wildcards were handed out, Azarenka was not among them — a snub that stood out given her history at the tournament she won twice, and one that coincided with reporting that her ranking had already slipped outside the top 100 after a 2025 season disrupted by injuries. When the French Open released its player entry lists in mid-April, her name was absent again. Nobody on tour was talking about her; as far as the WTA circuit was concerned, she had simply stopped existing.
Timeline of the silence
| Date | What happened |
| 29 Aug 2025 | Last tour match: loses in the US Open third round to Jessica Pegula |
| Jan 2026 | Left off the Australian Open wildcard list; ranking already outside the top 100 |
| Apr 2026 | Absent from the French Open entry lists; no explanation offered |
| July 2026 | Turns 37; posts a reflective birthday message about family, widely read as a hint she may be leaning toward stepping away |
| Aug 2026 | Ranked No. 451. She will lose her last ranking points once the US Open is over. |
The closest thing to an explanation has come from what she has not said rather than what she has. Her only social posts all year have been personal rather than professional — a Mother's Day message about her son Leo, now approaching double digits, and a birthday reflection about being surrounded by family that read, to most outlets covering it, like someone thinking out loud about priorities rather than someone rehabbing an injury. None of this confirms that Azarenka is retiring. But it does explain why speculation has intensified.
This birthday felt different.
— victoria azarenka (@vika7) July 31, 2026
On my drive home after Pilates today, I caught myself thinking about how special it is to simply be surrounded by family and friends. I asked both my mom and my dad when the last time was that we were all together for my birthday, and none of us…
Is Victoria Azarenka retiring?
Azarenka remains, technically, an active player on the WTA's own system — there has been no formal retirement filing, and nobody close to her has ruled out a return. But more than a year of complete absence, with no medical explanation ever offered and a ranking that has cratered from the top 50 to the 400s, is not the profile of a normal injury layoff.
It is starting to look like the kind of quiet exit some players choose over a farewell tour: no press conference, no final match circled on a calendar, just fewer and fewer signs of an eventual return.
For a player who spent parts of two seasons as the best in the world and gave the sport some of its most competitive Grand Slam finals, the anticlimax is jarring. The Belarusian has her place in women's tennis history as one of the prominent names of the 2010s, with fierce rivalries against Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, 10 WTA 1000 titles and just as many finals, as well as 15 years as a consistent presence on Tour. Between 2007 and 2024, she also recorded more than 80 wins against Top 10 opponents.
What suggests she could be nearing the end?
- 10+ months without playing
- age 37
- ranking No. 451
- missed three Grand Slams
- no comeback announcement
- increasingly personal social-media posts
What suggests a return is still possible?
- no formal retirement announcement
- no confirmed statement that her career is over
- she remained competitive relatively recently
- her ranking/absence alone doesn't prove retirement
Right now, retirement remains a possibility rather than a confirmed fact. Azarenka has not retired, but she has also given no indication of when she intends to return. At 37, ranked No. 451 and approaching a full year since her last match, the possibility that her career is quietly coming to an end is becoming harder to dismiss. But until Azarenka herself says otherwise, retirement remains speculation.
Cristhián AvilaTennis Journalist
Cristhián Ávila is a tennis journalist based in Santiago, Chile, and has been part of the TennisUpToDate team since early 2023. He covers the ATP and WTA Tours as well as all four Grand Slams, producing breaking news, match reports, analysis, and regular liveblogs from major tournaments.
His reporting combines statistical analysis with clear explanation, helping readers understand tactical developments, player form, and broader storylines across the tour. Working fluently in both Spanish and English, Cristhián collaborates with an international editorial team and contributes to comprehensive global coverage. As part of his work, he has conducted interviews and media interactions with leading figures in the sport, including Caroline Wozniacki and John McEnroe.
In his journalism, Cristhián places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. His coverage is grounded in research, context, and direct engagement with professional tennis.
claps 0visitors 0
Just In
Popular News
Latest Comments
- But pro tennis, like other sports & much of life, IS in the celebrity exemption business. Do we not look the other way when Krygios throws chairs around the court or Swiatek delays play to suit her own rhythm? Are we not right now making a BIG deal about Eala .. & making light of the fact that her fans are annoyingly boisterous. & are screwing with the timing of match play? Tourney decision-makers have been handing out wild cards to whomever they wish for a long time.. to players in their country, to former greats, to potential greats & maybe there are even 'secret' choices happening.. who knows. Yes, if I were Venus, I would be embarrassed by now.. & end it myself.. But if she wants to keep playing & directors have whatever reason they have for giving her another wild card, I'm going to watch her play with dignity & grace.. & maybe achieve a win.
tennishappens15-08-2026 - I mean... what the hell is wrong with you people (WTA) and this pathetic Williams Wildcard Wasting??? THE GIG IS UP -- LET IT GO. THIS IS A HINDRANCE TO YOUNG, DESERVING PLAYERS LOSING OPPORTUNITIES TO THE WILLIAMS SPOTLIGHT SEEKERS. Same goes for media -- STOP with the over-enthusiastic BS promoting of these two. We're laughing at you at this point... except it's no longer funny.
mandoist14-08-2026 - If you're going to copy quotes from another website, you should credit and/or link to that website. Especially if you're a 'journalist' who claims to be "grounded in core journalism ethics". Be better Lucas.JohanSchmidt14-08-2026
- Different venues have noticeably had a variety of obstructions on the courts last season -- and even more junk stashed here and there this season. Only a matter of time before a career is derailed or ended!!mandoist13-08-2026
- Injuries, my ass. She's claimed injuries and been seen the next day scouring the city on foot shopping and eating and shopping. Her goal seems to have been to salvage as many sponsors as possible (even attained a couple new ones). That's been her "game" for awhile now.mandoist11-08-2026
- It’s exhausting as a casual fan to keep up with Raducanu’s “issues” but I can only imagine how difficult it must be for her to have to go through them personally. So many good players with so many injuries lately.DaveyWavey11-08-2026
- It’s amazing how this tournament just cannot catch a break this year. Issue after issue.DaveyWavey11-08-2026
- Loved this article! Huge Capriati fan since childhood and watched most of these ladies throughout their careers. It’s crazy what Hingis was able to do at such a young age especially during the Graf/Seles/Davenport/Williams Sisters era. I also (unfortunately) believe that Raducanu’s run was a weird one-off fluke… but we’ll likely never know now… Thanks for your work. Looking forward to more of your articles.DaveyWavey10-08-2026
- If psychologist Ewa Woydyllo-Osiatynska is your therapist -- perhaps another choice is in order?mandoist10-08-2026
- Perhaps this stupid psychologist should consider having a conversation with Iga. She is out of place to make such bold assumptions!Rapunzel08-08-2026
Loading