Victoria Azarenka of Belarus reacts during her match against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia during the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris June 3, 2012.GONZALO FUENTES/Reuters
If looks could kill, Victoria Azarenka would be leaving Roland Garros in handcuffs.
The world number one, who suffered a surprise exit in the fourth round against Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova at the French Open on Sunday, was in dangerous mood at her news conference afterwards.
Asked what went wrong on Court Suzanne Lenglen, where she lost 6-2 7-6 to the 15th-seeded Cibulkova, the Belarussian said: "Pretty much everything."
When one reporter wondered aloud what she would do to recover from the shock, Azarenka looked daggers at him and said sarcastically: "I'm going to kill myself." Possibly meaning "you".
Australian Open champion Azarenka, who will not play in another tournament before Wimbledon, was at a loss to explain her defeat.
"I was trying, but before I was at least making something happen myself. Today I couldn't do it," she said.
"I don't know. It was just not going for me. I tried everything. It was just not going. All I could hope was just for her (to make a) mistake."
Azarenka refused to seek excuses, despite swirling winds and the threat of rain making conditions difficult on the Parisian clay.
"No excuses. It's just a bad performance," she said. "I wasn't bothered by that (the weather). It wasn't helping, that's for sure, but it's the same conditions for both. Conditions were not a problem."