Victoria Azarenka—known moving forward as "Ozarenka"—stepped off a plane stateside to sit down with Ellen DeGeneres on her daytime talk show. "I'm sure there was a little partying going on that night after you won, right?" Ellen asked, to which Azarenka responded, "There was a lot of champagne showers."
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Apparently Vika collects teddy bears, news which should strike fear in the hearts of zero of her foes. (Even so, she's undefeated to date in 2012—the female Djokovic in training?) Ellen blessed her with a gift, as she does most all of her guests—a lifesize teddy in a peekaboo pink dress with matching mini racquet. "We'll get you another seat on the plane for the teddy bear," Ellen added. "That won't look weird at all."
Surprising first move in this next Slam-winner, No. 1 phase of Azarenka's life—but also shrewd. She is surely making a play for the mainstream pop culture. If we've learned nothing else about women's tennis in the past two weeks, we know this: This one knows how to capitalize.
—Jonathan Scott (Follow me on Twitter *@jonscott9*.)