Victoria Azarenka announces she's pregnant, taking break from tennis

Sixth-ranked women’s tennis player Victoria Azarenka announced she was pregnant and would step away from the sport for a while.

The two-time Grand Slam winner hadn’t played since Azarenka, 26, was forced to retire with a right knee injury in the first round of the French Open in May.

“While recovering from the knee injury that I sustained at Roland Garros, I received news from my doctor that my boyfriend and I are going to become parents at the end of this year,” Azarenka wrote on both her Twitter and Facebook accounts. “We couldn’t be happier and feel very blessed to begin this exciting journey of building a family together.

“While I will miss competing in the sport that I love this season, I am excited for all that’s ahead. I will take the time to improve myself in ways I’ve never been able to do before. I have been truly inspired by so many strong female athletes who return to the very top of their sport after having children, and I plan to do exactly that.”

Azarenka, a native of Belarus, has won 20 WTA singles titles in her career, including three this year. She finished the 2012 WTA season ranked No. 1, bolstered by winning the first of two Australian Open titles that year.