Serena Williams may have taken the tennis world by storm with the announcement of her pregnancy but she has a precedent.

In July 2016, former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka announced that she was pregnant and would miss the rest of the season. Just 26 when she made the announcement, Azarenka has already achieved a historic high: the only tennis player from Belarus to win a Grand Slam title.

Azarenka delivered a baby boy in December last year. In an interview to the New York Times on Tuesday, she opened up on her return to competitive tennis, her new training set up and life in Belarus.

“Yes, I’ll do it for me, because I want to achieve my full potential, but it’s not anymore just for me,” Azarenka said, on her return to competitive tennis. “I want to have my son be proud of me. I want to give him a good example that if you have a goal and you have a dream, you can achieve it if you work hard.”

According to the report, the 27-year-old will return to the tennis circuit in July with a protected ranking of No 6 which will allow her entry but no seeding at at eight tournaments including two Grand Slams in the next eight months.

The Belarusian tennis player also talked about her discussions with Williams regarding pregnancy.

“I know that Serena was asking me a lot of questions about babies when she came by my house, and I didn’t really make anything of that,” Azarenka said. “I knew it was going to be in her life at some point. I didn’t know it was happening now.”

She added, “With the Grand Slams, it’s me who has to catch up to her, and she has to catch up to me with the baby. It’s a funny timing, but I do hope she is coming back, and we can have some more of our battles, because she’s one of the people I can’t imagine the tour without.”

Azarenka will return with a new coach, Michael Joyce, who she terms as a “strong personality”. Regarding her return to tennis, Joyce commented, “It actually looks like, in a lot of cases, the women come back stronger.”

He added, “For someone who has been already No 1 and has won Grand Slams, she [Azarenka] was just picking my brain. You could tell she’s hungry to get back.”

Currently training in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, Azarenka has grown closer to her roots. She left the country at the age of 14 to first Spain and then the United States. One thing that she remains thankful for is her ability to take the opportunities offered to her at the right time.

“Your luck also comes because you create it,” said the former world No 1. “I think I’ve always been very good at taking advantage of the opportunities that have been given to me, because I didn’t have many. Once I got one, I grabbed it with two hands.”