The Palace of Sports hosted charity match of the world top-ranked racket Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark), ranking 10th in WTA rating, as well as the Belarusian tennis player Victoria Azarenka on November 19. The match aimed at raising funds for the Republican Scientific Practical Center of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology in Barauliany.
Besides the spectators, there were children and adults with cancer, as well as the disabled, in the front rows, while the stands were occupied by the government officials, headed by the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and his son Nikolai.
Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka, being good friends, appeared in public, smiling and making endless jokes. When tennis players began signing autographs to young and old fans, the impatient crowd, being so excited, was about to turn over the table with the first racket of the world at it. Having signed the autographs, Caroline and Victoria began their tennis master-class, tirelessly pulling out one after the other all the spectators, willing to share a court with the world tennis stars.
The match itself began after the performance of the Belarusian pop and sports stars. If both tennis players conducted themselves seriously at the beginning of the meeting, then the breaks between sets became the scene for the audience’s entertainment in all possible ways: the girls danced, depicting a quarrel and then putting up, climbed the referees’ tower to tilt by kisses the balance in their favour, and even brought the president to the court to play tennis, who «beat» the two tennis players with pleasure.
When the girl returned to the game, the Dane became completely relaxed and turned the game into an entertaining show: played along with photographers, receiving innings with one hand, shrugged her shoulders in disappointment, when skipping Azarenka’s innings, shouted from the «unbearable» stress and made erotic poses.
The Belarusian tennis player Victoria Azarenka won the match. The head of state decided to congratulate the girls with words and men’s gifts such as memorial hangers, hockey sticks and medals. Both the viewers and the president were moved to tears by Victoria Azarenka’s speech, in which she described her emotions, aroused when seeing faces of sick children during her visit to the Center of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology in Barauliany. A charity auction in support of the cancer center was held at the end of the event.
Photos by Aleksei Stoliarov look here.
