Zvonareva readies for US Open
Fresh off her appearance at the Wimbledon final against Serena Williams, Vera Zvonareva of Russia takes part in the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego to ready for the upcoming US Open.
Best career performance
Zvonareva holds the number three seed for the San Diego tournament, where she hopes to work on fine-tuning her game even more in anticipation of the hard-court Grand Slam in late August. Her defeat against Serena Williams at this years Wimbledon final was nonetheless the best career performance to date for the 25-year-old Russian. In total, she has claimed five doubles and 10 singles titles over the span of her career. Recently cracking the world Top 10, to claim the world number nine ranking, Zvonareva has been ranked as high as number five in the past.
Changing coaches before US Open
Having worked with her previous coach Julia Kashevarova for several years, Zvonareva made the decision to change coaches, hiring Antonio van Grichen of Portugal to guide her in the day-to-day training routine. Zvonareva has seen several good runs this year throughout the tour, but has lacked a solid consistency, giving rise to speculations that changing her coach earlier this season contributed to a temporary halt in progress, as she adjusted to the new situation.
“It's never easy to change coaches or change people in your team. But from my experience with my past coaches, I try to take a fresh view from my new coach and put it together. You have to be careful about changing things right away. It's good to have new opinions around and other advice and use it to your advantage to try and improve on. Not just from your past coach, but things that your new coach sees. I'm still trying my best and I'm still the same player, just trying to improve myself,” she said on ESPN's SportsNation.
US Open lead up
Coming off a relatively strong season, especially following her Wimbledon final appearance against Serena Williams, Zvonareva readies for success at the upcoming US Open. An aggressive baseliner, with an ability to put her opponent on the defensive from the start, Zvonareva maintains an impressive fitness level, with a proven excellence and speed in her footwork. With a fierce two-handed backhand, Zvonareva is able to put finish off lengthy volleys, and hit the ball with quite a flat trajectory.
With her physical form in check, Zvonareva could benefit from improving her mental fortitude during matches. With hopes of success at the US Open, Zvonareva needs to exhibit maturity and emotional stability if she is to advance past players such as Kim Clijsters, the Williams sisters, and Maria Sharapova.
Post-Wimbledon training
Having demonstrated her ability to excel on grass at Wimbledon this past July, Zvonareva will need to make attunements to her game in time for the US Open. She is confident that she will make the transition from grass to hard-court smoothly.
“Coming from the grass court where the ball bounces very low, you have to put a little more spin on the ball on the hard court, where the bounce is much higher. You have to anticipate and move well on the hard court. The tennis is pretty quick, so you have to be perfect with your footwork,” she said on ESPN.
Since Zvonareva’s footwork is already impressive, she will just focus on maintaining her current level of fitness. The real challenge for the 25-year-old Russian will be to remain calm in the face of immense pressure at the US Open, and not to hurry the points, which could lead to an inability to play a composed and relaxed game that is simultaneously aggressive.
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