ITF

190 LONDON 2012 WOMEN'S SINGLES BRONZE LONDON 2012 MIXED DOUBLES GOLD VICTORIA AZARENKA Belarus I remember it like it was yesterday, I really do. The most memories probably are from the final of the mixed doubles, but I remember pretty much everything, the whole experience, the whole week. It was my second Olympics so it wasn't like, "Oh my god, the first time at the Olympics." I was really in the bubble, I really went with the mindset to win medals. It wasn't so much for me about the experience of the Olympics, there was an ultimate goal there. I really wanted to prove that yes, I'm able to bring that, because we [Belarus] never had any medals ever in the history [of tennis]. That type of pressure was there and I really wanted to deliver. I wasn't that upset to lose to Serena [Williams] in the semifinals because I had to play for the bronze and that's something you don't experience anywhere else. That was really tough, to come back from a loss and go and play another singles match right there in the same tournament. It was an interesting experience. The mixed doubles final was very close. I still remember the last four points exactly. There were a lot of mixed emotions because that week was so heavy in terms of pressure. We [with Max Mirnyi] had a lot of pressure from the country and the federation, not in a bad way, but everyone wanted us to do so well. When we got to the final we were already guaranteed a medal but I didn't want silver, I wanted gold. We played day after day, there were rain delays, I played three matches in one day which hasn't happened since juniors, it was definitely an exhausting week. Of course, I was nervous. It was very different. It was really like carrying the whole baggage on your shoulders. I think sometimes in mixed it's a little bit more challenging because the guy thinks that they have to cover the whole court and I think I'm pretty good on the left, on the backhand, I can handle my corner. We had to adapt that dynamic and what was happening. At that particular moment we won gold, that was one of the biggest reliefs. I was like, "Okay, thank god, we've done it." Then there was pure joy. First there was relief because the last two match points were really messed up. Max told me something that I never heard before in my life. At 9-8 when we already had two match points he told me all of a sudden, "I'm going air wide backhand" and I'd never heard that in my life. I think maybe he was nervous or maybe that's a doubles thing but I said, "What the hell is air wide backhand?" I said, "No, go body, you have to go body," because [Andy] Murray was on fire after winning gold. He was like, "Okay, okay, I'll go body." The podium felt incredible. We went back to get the medals as there was another match in between so I had that moment for it to sink in, to see my mum, to see my best friend, so we took a bit of time to enjoy it. When we went on the podium it was more of a settled emotion, it was really, really cool. It's one of my proudest moments. For our country, I think the gold medal was the most meaningful of my achievements. At that particular moment we won gold, that was one of the biggest reliefs.

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