MINSK, Belarus — The child care was done, if only for a moment, and Victoria Azarenka was back where it all began, leaning against the wall that had been her first tennis companion.
“It was the best hitting partner, because it never misses, never complains,” Azarenka explained.
The wall is in a small gymnasium in the Republic Olympic Training Center, a labyrinthine tennis facility in Minsk that was a short walk from the small, two-bedroom apartment Azarenka shared with her parents, her older brother, Max, and her grandparents.
Her mother, Alla, worked in the tennis center, and Azarenka had the run of the place from a young age.