Eighteen-time Grand Slam champion Chris Evert believes that Victoria Azarenka will easily sweep aside last year's controversy when she takes to the court for the Australian Open next week.
The defending champion's success in Melbourne 2013 was overshadowed slightly by the reception she received from the fans after beating American Sloane Stephens in the semi-final following a controversial 10-minute medical timeout.
Despite the previous crowd not being in her favour, Evert, who will be an analyst for ESPN's televised coverage of the tournament in the US, told Sports Mole that Azarenka will be "dangerous" and won't let previous troubles affect her.
"I think she's very tough mentally and her memory is short," said Evert. "I don't think she's going to give one thought to that whatsoever. I think it's another year, life goes on and I think she's looking ahead.
"This tournament is very special to her because she's won it a couple of times - she's had great success, she's had some big wins, and I think she loves the surface. She likes the speed of the court, she likes the moving and I think she's going to be very dangerous here. I don't think what happened before will affect her whatsoever."
The 24-year-old will have the task of successfully defending her title for a third time in a row after overcoming Maria Sharapova and Li Na in the 2012 and 2013 finals respectively.
ESPN.co.uk will provide comprehensive coverage of the 2014 Australian Open Championships with live scores, video, and reports, plus fans can follow all the live action via ESPN CourtCast which provides real-time scoring and graphical play-by-play summaries.
