Victoria Azarenka and Chris Evert condemn abusive messages to athletes on social media

Chris Evert came out in support of Victoria Azarenka, who condemned the abuse of athletes on social media.

The Belarusian took to social media to give her two cents on people sending hateful comments towards athletes online.

"I’m sure I’m not the first person to ask this on social media, but why do people follow you and then write hateful comments to you? Like shouldn’t it be as easy as just unfollow and go on about your life," Victoria Azarenka wrote on Twitter.

Chris Evert retweeted Azarenka's tweet and said:

"That’s a great question..."

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Victoria Azarenka shuts down fan who claimed she was 'beefing' with Serena Williams

Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams during the 2019 Indian Wells Open

Victoria Azarenka recently had a Q&A session with her fans on Twitter, where she silenced one person who claimed that she was 'beefing' with Serena Williams.

Having observed that the two-time Australian Open champion did not post anything on social media with regard to the American's retirement, a fan linked that with bad blood between the two players.

"You are def beefing w serena, no mention of her retiring. She def didnt do the podcast or something," a user wrote.

Azarenka was quick to respond to the tweet and stated that she would much rather talk to Williams in person rather than put out a tweet.

"Dude seriously… Talking to Serena in person means to me way more than putting a tweet out. And I’m grateful for that," she replied.

Azarenka has won 20 out of 31 matches so far this season, reaching the quarterfinals of the Adelaide International 1 and more recently, the Citi Open. At the latter tournament, she beat Dayana Yastremska and Tereza Martincova before losing to Wang Xiyu.

The Belarusian entered the US Open seeded 26th and started the tournament by beating qualifier Ashlyn Krueger 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in the first round. She followed this up by defeating Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-3. Azarenka then thrashed Petra Martic 6-3, 6-0 to set up a fourth-round clash against Karolina Pliskova.

The two played out a tightly-fought contest, with the Czech winning 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2. Azarenka's run in Flushing Meadows saw her climb five spots to 21st in the WTA rankings.

The 33-year-old will be keen to do well in the remainder of the season and rise further in the rankings. However, it is yet to be seen what her next tournament will be.