Wimbledon finals end in tears for Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva’s remarkable run to both the ladies singles and doubles finals ended in disappointment, and ultimately tears, at Wimbledon this year.
It is, of course, not the first time tennis fans have witnessed this emotion-charged player dissolve into tears or smash a racquet over the course of her career (she made sure her racquet knew just how much it had let her down in the final in Charleston just this April). It won’t be the last either.
“It doesn't mean if I break the racquet I'm going to stop playing or something,” Zvonareva explained before the singles final. “No. I think with an experience and maturity, I learn a lot about myself, and I know where I have to pump myself up and where I have to calm myself down. That's the most important thing. But emotions, I think they're good. They should be there. It's sport. It shows that you care, that you trying your best out there.”
There can be little doubt Zvonareva gave her all in two finals on Saturday, but equally, on the evidence of the doubles final, it was more a case of her emotions getting the better of her, rather than Zvonareva harnessing them for the good of her game.
The 21st seed managed to keep her emotions in check as Serena Williams powered past her to claim a fourth Wimbledon ladies singles title but by the time she and partner Elena Vesnina squandered set point and then the first set in a tiebreak in the doubles, could plug the waterworks no longer.
As Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova headed towards a Wimbledon doubles crown, a disconsolate Zvonareva headed towards her chair at the end of the set and finally let the floodgates open, sobbing into her towel as Vesnina sought to find words of encouragement for her partner. To no avail.
Zvonareva may have survived the heartbreak of losing one final for the day, but as a second chance to become a Wimbledon champion faded before her teary eyes, the emotional player couldn’t muster the will to fight that had been the hallmark of her come-from-behind victories in the quarter-finals and semis in the singles.
It was perhaps no surprise that after a day that had started so promisingly took another turn for the worse, the 25-year-old’s racquet was subjected to the brunt of Zvonareva’s frustrations, as she smashed it’s frame into the court twice in the opening game of the second set after miscuing volleys.
From there it was no great surprise that King and Shvedova ran away with the title in a 6-2 second set, as Zvonareva could only watch on as the prize she’d come within touching distance of remained just out of reach. Again.
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