Posted by Peter Bodo, TENNIS.com
There are tears of sadness and tears of joy, but maybe nothing is better than seeing the former turn into the latter. Just ask Vera Zvonareva, the 24-year old Muscovite who just turned a neat double at the BNP Paribas Open, winning the singles as well as the doubles (with Victoria Azarenka).
This one was a long time coming.
Zvonareva has remarkable skills as a tennis player. She demonstrated that way back in 2003 when, still a teenager, she upended Venus Williams at Roland Garros. This put her right in the thick of things, and she was thought of in much the same terms as Russian peers like Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva. But in the interim, a combination of injuries and the inability to cope with the mental and emotional stress of competition kept Zvonareva caged among journeywomen of the tour.
She finished 2004 at No. 11, but plummeted to No. 42 the following year. In 2006 and '07, Zvonareva was hard-pressed to regain the top 20 and finished just outside the group. But she began to stir again in 2008, finishing No. 7. So far this year, she's 18-2, with a title (Pattaya City) and a semifinal in the first Grand Slam of the year on her résumé.
Last year at this time, I sought Zvonareva out at Indian Wells right after her loss to the same woman she beat this year for the title -- Ana Ivanovic. I asked her to rate herself, on a scale of one to 10, in the three critical departments: technical, mental, emotion. She gave it a moment's thought and said "Probably a six, in all of them." In other words, she blew off the question, and its implications.
But I pressed her and got her to actually think about the questions, and she finally conceded: "Technically, I'm probably much higher, a seven or maybe even an eight. I feel I can do anything, technically. But mentally, maybe still a six."
Well, that was a lot better. My own rating would have been an eight or even nine on the technical front; though she doesn't have great power, she has the same kind of versatility as a Kuznetsova, or even the retired Justine Henin. She can pounce on the short ball and roll to net, where she is comfortable volleying and is armed with a good overhead. She is a good mover with excellent touch and has a solid ability to change the pace of the ball.
Mentally, she's now at seven and rising, given her record this year. The inexplicable losses and long periods of indifferent play may be behind her. Emotionally, I would have put her at a four or five in 2008, with all those crying jags fresh in memory. But she's improved that number to a seven or eight this year. The big question now is: Can it last?
Given the volatility near the top of the women's game, she couldn't ask for a better time to make a move. A player as versatile and nimble as Zvonareva is more than capable of tormenting pure sluggers (like Dinara Safina) and adjusting cleverly to the games of the other top women -- among whom only Venus and Serena Williams are capable of flat-out overpowering an opponent like Zvonareva.
Zvonareva has a big window of opportunity; whether she's mature and stable enough to jump through without fear is the question left in the wake of Indian Wells.
Peter Bodo
