'The excitement level is rising': Victoria Azarenka on her form ahead of Australian Open

Even a 14-day quarantine before the Australian Open could not dampen Belarusian ace Victoria Azarenka's excitement for the game.

Former world number one, who won both her Grand Slams in Australia (2012, 2013), earned her first title since 2016 at the Western & Southern Open in August when Naomi Osaka withdrew from the final with injury. Azarenka was, however, beaten by Osaka in the US Open finals last year and she also reached the Ostrava Open final in October, losing to Aryna Sabalenka.

The 31-year-old talked about her form in a recent podcast she launched on mental health this week where she said: "It wasn't necessarily surprising for me, but I was so grateful that all of the work I'd been doing was paying off."

"Now, it's like ... I want to do this, do that, and let me see how I can get there. The excitement level is rising and rising," she told Sky Sports.

Azarenka has her share of lows in her prolific career as she was down with foot injury in 2014 then had a year-long maternity break in 2016-17. Until 2018, the Belarusian player had to fight for the custody of her 10-year-old son Leo after splitting with her partner.

However, the player bounced back in style coming into the latter stages of the tournaments. "I can say hands down that I've never enjoyed tennis as much as I am now," she said. "I've never enjoyed my life as much as I have now. I feel like that kid who was a 10-year-old and dreamt about being on the big stages.

"That's priceless for me."

(Inputs from Reuters)