No Bitterness From Victoria Azarenka After Surprise Split With Coach

On Tennis

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY

In a time of increased shuffling in the coaching ranks of professional tennis, the partnership between Victoria Azarenka and her longtime coach Sam Sumyk ended abruptly, at least from Azarenka’s perspective.

During their five years together, Azarenka won two Grand Slam singles titles, rose to No. 1 and then dropped in the rankings last season while struggling with injuries and personal issues.

But Azarenka showed signs of resurgence last month at the Australian Open, and she said she was surprised when Sumyk informed her of his decision to terminate the partnership the day after her fourth-round loss to Dominika Cibulkova.

“I never will forget what we achieved together and always will be grateful, but yeah, it was a bit surprising for me,” Azarenka said in a telephone interview Tuesday from Doha, Qatar. “To me, it’s just sad. There’s no other emotion. There’s no anger. There’s no anything else but just sadness, because it’s like a breakup in a way.”

Sumyk and Azarenka quickly moved on.

“I read the books and everything and watched the trailer 100 times with my friends, so when we finally got the tickets, I was so excited, so I tweeted that,” she said. “And after the movie, I come out and see like on the Twitter: ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe she said that.’”

Azarenka said she did not even know Bouchard was playing that day.

“In terms of like their situation, I will never comment on that; really it’s none of my business,” she said of Sumyk and Bouchard. “I’m sure we are going to meet again on the court, and there’s going to be a lot of buzz: Oh my God, blah, blah, blah. But I really don’t care about that. I really try to stick to what I’ve got to do and to be focused on my next step, my team.”

Azarenka said she believed the atmosphere on the women’s tour had become much more collegial and that she intended to keep it that way.

“I think we had enough drama in the women’s game, and I think the guys show us in a way really a great example: that you can be competitive but you still can be friendly,” she said. “So for me, I’m not going to try to think of this situation like it’s a drama.”

A version of this article appears in print on February 19, 2015, on page B14 of the New York edition with the headline: Moving On After Surprise Split With Coach. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe

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