How good is Benito at PR?

Yesterday, Victoria Azarenka lost a match against Makarova in the US Open quarter finals.

Azarenka has been injured most of the season and had little form going in to the tournament, so it wasn't a big surprise.

However, her agent, Benito decided that he ought to let the media know that there was more to the loss than that:  

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg  Sep 3
Azarenka's PR guy comes by to tell us that Vika had food poisoning yesterday, was vomiting, didn't practice. "No excuses," he adds. #usopen

Azarenka then gets asked questions in her press conference which she appears reluctant to answer:

Q. Your PR representative tweeted a little while ago after the match that you were suffering from food poisoning. What were the circumstances and how did it affect you?

VICTORIA AZARENKA: You know what? I don't really want to talk about it. I just, you know, want to give credit to my opponent. She played really well today. Am I disappointed? Yes, I'm disappointed. But I feel like I tried my best with whatever I had. But, you know, I just want to wish her good luck. That's it. I'm out of the tournament.

Q. You had a bit of food poisoning the previous night?

VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah.

Q. No practice yesterday?

VICTORIA AZARENKA: No, I didn't practice yesterday.

Q. Few times during today's match you made almost like a move towards your mouth. Were you feeling okay out there? Was there anything going on out there?

VICTORIA AZARENKA: Guys, I'm not going to make excuses for myself. You can ask me 20 times the same question. I'm not going to make any excuses today. As I said, I did the best I could today. I want to give full credit to my opponent. She deserves to win. She played much better than me today. That's it.  

So either Azarenka really doesn't want to discuss how food poisoning might have affected her, in which case her agent has left her with awkward questions to deal with, or she wants all her recorded quotes to say she's not making excuses/tried her best/gives credit to her opponent while making sure the press will report she was impaired.

Sounds familiar. Sigh

Personally, it doesn't bother me at all if a player was to talk about injuries, illnesses or other impairments. They happen and the sure do affect matches. But if you want them known, just address it directly. Don't have your agent briefing the press before putting up this "I don't want to talk about it" charade. Giving credit to your opponent is about more than saying "I want to give credit". It's possible to talk about both how you were below par and also what specifically your opponent did well that won them the points that mattered. When a player handles that well, then that's great PR.

It's simple, and yes is connected to food. Azarenka is carrying far too much fat...because she doesn't work hard enough. You can see it just by looking at her, there is no muscle tone. She's nowhere fit enough to be near the peak of the game....too many takeaways when she was with that fuzzy haired "singer" from LMFAO. The picture below shows a lack of tone...don't get me wrong she has a nice figure for a woman...but not a pro athlete wanting to win slams.



Azarenka 3 years ago...

I'm presuming you're no fan of Azerenka?

Therefore, I would imagine there is nothing she (or her PR people) could have done or said in this press conference that would have you thinking positively about her or her response to this match.

She was clearly ill and it affected her match, other people knew she was ill and it affected her match. Given these facts, it's very difficult to find a way to address these issues and appear to be giving credit to the opponent.

If you try not to talk about the illness, but people are asking about it, it still looks like you're making excuses as much as if you just came straight out and say 'Hey, I was sick as a dog, and couldn't play close to my best'. It's a no win situation really.

She's still carrying too much weight/lack of fitness regardless of whether ill or not. That's the real reason she's going backwards.

She had already gone backwards 12 months ago...



3 years before that in October 2010...

djlovesyou wrote:I'm presuming you're no fan of Azerenka?

Not a fan as such no, but I do like her - she has bags of personality, an interesting game and the talent to create meaningful rivals with Serena & Sharapova which the less established top women's players don't have yet.

Definitely not a fan of PR people though, in general, and Benito seems particularly bad.

I certainly acknowledge that Vika was not her best and, as I say, I've no problem with her addressing it. My issue is with her PR rep addressing it and then her not. That just doesn't sit well with me.

djlovesyou wrote:It's a no win situation really.

I'd hard to get right, sure. That's what I meant by players who handle it well being really good at PR, not the ones with the supposedly top agents.

Lydian, thankfully she seems to have recovered her taste and moved on from Redfoo. Aside from the food poisoning, what was always likely to hold her back here was the long injury lay-off and lack of matches & wins leading in. Hopefully, if she stays injury-free, she'll be able to train hard and be ready for next season.

Agreed re: pie eating Redfoo Yvonne, but she was carrying more weight this time last year before the injuries you mention.

That's the issue. I just don't think she's been working hard enough truly...the PR statement is a cover up. This photo, my last one...is from May 2013. Look at it closely...no tone, thicker midriff, she even looks to have a slight double chin then. That's over 12 months ago and she's been going backwards since. Perhaps carrying more weight and being less fit has made her more susceptible to that foot injury too. She really needs to hit the gym hard if she wants to scale the heights again...there is no substitute for fitness in this tennis era, talent isn't enough on its own to go deep in slams & Masters anymore. Maybe the USO loss will be the shock to her system she needs...something needs to motivate her.

I'm beginning to think that lydian feels that Azarenka is overweight.

Not disagreeing, but yeah, we get it.

djlovesyou wrote:I'm beginning to think that lydian feels that Azarenka is overweight.

Not disagreeing, but yeah, we get it.

god knows what he/she would say about poor old Marion Bartoli