Agnieszka Radwanska not pleased with Victoria Azarenka

Agnieszka Radwanska is already on record as being firmly in the anti-grunting camp, but she's never gone so far as to make public statements against her good friend and WTA No. 1 Victoria Azarenka specifically.

That ended this week in Dubai, when Radwanska was asked about the blatantly cold handshake she gave her “good friend” after she lost in the semifinals of Doha. In that match, Azarenka sprained her ankle early in the second set and Radwanska took exception to, in her opinion, Azarenka’s exaggerated demonstrations of pain throughout the rest of the match, wincing and limping between points and looking like a woman who was on the verge of retiring at any second.

"I think after this match (in Doha) [I] just lost a lot of respect," Radwanska said after her quarterfinal win in Dubai. "If you do this in the match, if anyone didn't see the match, I think it's just a quick look on YouTube and you'll know what was going on."

You got it, Aga. Here are the highlights from the match. To see the cold as ice handshake, go to the 12:15 mark:

*****

"I was angry because I don't think this is the great image for the women's tennis, what was going on there," she said.

Boy, I wonder how Azarenka will react if she hears about this. Oh wait, it looks like she did. She sent out this tweet right around the same time the story went out, though it's not clear for sure if it was a direct response.

http://twitter.com/vika7/statuses/172770453058891777

If you do a Google search for "Azarenka Radwanska friends," you'll find scores of articles written over the years referencing their close friendship. Radwanska's Wikipedia page lists Azarenka as one of her best friends on Tour. It's a bond they say goes back to their junior days, and it probably helps that they both count Caroline Wozniacki as one of their best friends.