Vera Zvonareva – finding the positives from US Open loss
It’s time to look at the positives for Vera Zvonareva after losing her second successive Grand Slam final, the US Open runners-up platter joining her reward for losing the Wimbledon final in July.
The Russian’s defeat in the US Open final will be even harder to stomach than Serena Williams’ straight-sets victory at Wimbledon, and for good reason.
The seventh seed would have been justified in thinking she’d served her Grand Slam final apprenticeship at the All England Club; that the experience would hold her in good stead against a player in Kim Clijsters that Zvonareva had knocked out in three sets in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
“It's [the Wimbledon final] something that I will always remember. But I'm trying to look forward,” Zvonareva said heading into the final at Flushing Meadows. “Wimbledon is in the past. I have this experience. I'm just looking forward.”
As well she might. After all, Zvonareva had just upended top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals.
Up to that point the Dane had been playing a consistent brand of tennis that had converted many sceptics of her No. 1 seeding (obtained in the absence of world No. 1 Serena Williams due to a foot injury) into believers.
Zvonareva too was a believer, but in her own abilities and as Wozniacki produced an unusually error-riddled match while the 26-year-old produced an equally composed one to prevent a repeat of the 2009 final with a 7-5, 6-3 win.
Then came the final and a reminder that beating Clijsters in New York is a very different proposition than beating the Belgian on grass at Wimbledon. Seventeen winners (to Zvonareva’s six) and 15 unforced errors (to Zvonareva’s 24) and four breaks of serve meant that Clijsters was always in control of the final and the world No. 8 was consigned to second place once again.
It was understandable that this emotion-charged player vented her frustrations on her racquet during the match, and that there were tears afterwards as she tried to digest another Grand Slam final loss. It must have been a bitter pill to swallow.
Yet it was Clijsters, after punishing the Russian on court, who also provided Zvonareva with reason to hope.
Clijsters herself was on the losing side of the net in four Grand Slam finals before she claimed her first major title (at the 2005 US Open), and comforted Zvonareva with the fact that it took her several attempts to win in a final before she became a Grand Slam champion.
“Of course I'm disappointed at the moment, and I'm disappointed because I believe that I was not able to play my best today,” Zvonareva said after the final.
“But I'm trying to look forward. I'm trying to think about what I have to do next to, you know, play better. Hopefully I will have another chance. Hopefully I will go far in another Grand Slam. Hopefully I will be more experienced.”
But if she looks back for just a moment, Zvonareva can take plenty of positives from this year.
Zvonareva harnessed the emotions that many observers regarded as a hindrance and turned them to her best advantage; it’s taken two of the world’s best, two proven Grand Slam champions, to thwart her hopes of winning a major final.
She’s now a clear leader among the Russian contingent, with Maria Sharapova threatening to get back to her old winning ways but not quite managing to produce, and Svetlana Kuznetsova (the French Open champion in 2009) dropping out of the top-10 this year.
And while Zvonareva may not yet have a Grand Slam title to her name, she joins Serena Williams (who won the titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon) as the only player to have reached two major finals in 2010.
It’s a solid platform from which to launch her 2011 Grand Slam campaign, and there’s every reason to believe that Zvonareva will again be one of the contenders for the titles at the majors next year.
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