LOS ANGELES — It was almost 2015, and Victoria Azarenka was parked in her sleek sport utility vehicle on a Beverly Hills street with the rain drumming on the windshield as she spoke about how it felt to no longer be above the rest, to be ranked No. 31 instead of No. 1.

“It’s just a number,” she said slowly and quietly. “If I thought that, hey, No. 31 is how I feel and this is me, there would be a problem. But that’s not it. I know what I’m capable of. And I don’t need to say it. I just need to do what I want to do.”

What Azarenka wants to do is return to tennis’s ruling class, where she was firmly entrenched in 2012 and 2013, winning consecutive Australian Opens. She scrapped and shrieked to the top of the pyramid, and she demonstrated the rare ability to walk on court against Serena Williams with her chin up and her shoulders back, clearly believing that she could prevail.

After the two met for their second-straight three-set United States Open final in 2013, Williams’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, said, “Serena and Victoria Azarenka, they are above the rest.”