Natasha Zvereva

Natasha Zvereva
Наталля Зверава
Наталья Зверева

Country	Soviet Union (1988–1991)  Belarus (from 1991)
Residence	Minsk, Belarus
Born	16 April 1971 (1971-04-16) (age 40) Minsk, Belarus
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	May 1988
Retired	2002
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$7,792,503
Int. Tennis HOF	2010 (member page)
Singles
Career record	434–252
Career titles	4 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 5 (22 May 1989)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (1995)
French Open	F (1988)
Wimbledon	SF (1998)
US Open	QF (1993)
Doubles
Career record	714–170
Career titles	80 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 1 (7 October 1991)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1993, 1994, 1997)
French Open	W (1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997)
Wimbledon	W (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997)
US Open	W (1991, 1992, 1995, 1996)
Other Doubles tournaments
WTA Championships	W (1993, 1994, 1998)
Mixed Doubles
Career titles	2
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1990, 1995)
Wimbledon	F (1991)
US Open	F (1990)
Last updated on: 13 April 2009.

Olympic medal record
Women's Tennis
Competitor for the Unified Team
Bronze	1992 Barcelona	doubles

Natalya "Natasha" Zvereva, or Zverava (Belarusian: Наталля Зверава, Russian: Наталья Зверева; born 16 April 1971) is a former tennis player from Belarus. Zvereva was the first major athlete in the Soviet Union to demand publicly that she should be able to keep her tournament earnings.^[1] The team of Zvereva and Gigi Fernández won more women's doubles titles and Grand Slam women's doubles championships than any other team since the team of Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver.^[2][3] Navratilova, speaking of the abilities of the two teams, said that she and Shriver were better, but "We were power. They are finesse. It would have been close."^[4]

Zvereva is currently the captain of the Belarussian Fed Cup team.^[5] On 12 July 2010, Zvereva was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame alongside Fernandez.

Playing style

Zvereva used a baseline, counter-punching style centered around topspin and her double-handed backhand. She had great hands,^[6] used a variety of spins, and was willing to rush the net and volley.^[7] Though Zvereva's talent was never in doubt, she often suffered from lapses in concentration during matches and in her confidence as a singles player.^[8][9]

Career

As a junior, Zvereva won the Wimbledon girls singles title in 1986, defeating Leila Meskhi in the final 2–6, 6–2, 9–7. Zvereva also won the US Open girls singles championship in 1987, beating Sandra Birch in the final 6–0, 6–3.

After turning pro, Zvereva won four WTA Tour singles titles and 80 WTA Tour doubles titles. Eighteen of them were Grand Slam doubles titles: five at Wimbledon, four at the US Open, five at the French Open, and four at the Australian Open. She won those Grand Slam doubles titles with four different partners: Gigi Fernández, Martina Hingis, Pam Shriver, and Larisa Savchenko Neiland.

In addition to her Grand Slam doubles titles, Zvereva teamed with Meskhi to win a bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

Zvereva's best achievement in singles was in 1988 when, at age of 17, she beat second ranked Navratilova in the fourth round and sixth seeded Helena Suková in the quarterfinals en route to the final of the French Open. In the semifinals, Zvereva saved two match points against Nicole Bradtke before winning 6–3, 6–7, 7–5. In the final, she lost to Steffi Graf 6–0, 6–0 in only 32 minutes (the shortest Grand Slam final ever), who went on to win all four Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic gold medal that year. Zvereva is one of the few players to have beaten both Graf and Monica Seles in the same Grand Slam singles tournament. At Wimbledon in 1998, Zvereva defeated the fourth seeded Graf in the third round 6–4, 7–5 and the sixth seeded Seles in a quarterfinal 7–6(4), 6–2. Starting with the French Open in 1987 and extending through Wimbledon in 2000, Zvereva played in 51 of the 54 Grand Slam singles tournaments held during that period.

In addition to her Grand Slam women's doubles titles, Zvereva twice won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open. She partnered with Jim Pugh to win the title in 1990 and with Rick Leach in 1995.

Zvereva retired from professional tennis in 2003. Her last appearance in a Grand Slam Tournament was in Wimbledon 2002, where she lost on the first round to Marlene Weingartner 4–6, 6–3, 6–2. She played in the invitational doubles event in 2007.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (0 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in final	Score in final
Runner-up	1988	French Open	Clay	Steffi Graf	6–0, 6–0

Doubles: 31 (18 titles, 13 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Runner-up	1988	Wimbledon (1)	Grass	Larisa Savchenko	Steffi Graf Gabriela Sabatini	6–3, 1–6, 12–10
Winner	1989	French Open (1)	Clay	Larisa Savchenko	Steffi Graf Gabriela Sabatini	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	1989	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Larisa Savchenko	Jana Novotná Helena Suková	6–1, 6–2
Runner-up	1990	French Open (1)	Clay	Larisa Savchenko	Jana Novotná Helena Suková	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	1991	French Open (2)	Clay	Larisa Savchenko	Gigi Fernández Jana Novotná	6–4, 6–0
Winner	1991	Wimbledon (1)	Grass	Larisa Savchenko	Gigi Fernández Jana Novotná	6–4, 3–6, 8–6
Winner	1991	US Open (1)	Hard	Pam Shriver	Jana Novotná Larisa Savchenko	6–4, 4–6, 7–6(5)
Winner	1992	French Open (2)	Clay	Gigi Fernández	Conchita Martínez Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 6–2
Winner	1992	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Gigi Fernández	Jana Novotná Larisa Savchenko	6–4, 6–1
Winner	1992	US Open (2)	Hard	Gigi Fernández	Jana Novotná Larisa Savchenko	7–6(4), 6–1
Winner	1993	Australian Open (1)	Hard	Gigi Fernández	Pam Shriver Elizabeth Smylie	6–4, 6–3
Winner	1993	French Open (3)	Clay	Gigi Fernández	Jana Novotná Larisa Savchenko	6–3, 7–5
Winner	1993	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	Gigi Fernández	Jana Novotná Larisa Savchenko	6–4, 6–7(9), 6–4
Winner	1994	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Gigi Fernández	Patty Fendick Meredith McGrath	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Winner	1994	French Open (4)	Clay	Gigi Fernández	Lindsay Davenport Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–2
Winner	1994	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	Gigi Fernández	Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	1995	Australian Open (1)	Hard	Gigi Fernández	Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 6–7(3), 6–4
Winner	1995	French Open (5)	Clay	Gigi Fernández	Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–7(6), 6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	1995	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	Gigi Fernández	Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	5–7, 7–5, 6–4
Winner	1995	US Open (3)	Hard	Gigi Fernández	Brenda Schultz Rennae Stubbs	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	1996	French Open (3)	Clay	Gigi Fernández	Lindsay Davenport Mary Joe Fernandez	6–2, 6–1
Winner	1996	US Open (4)	Hard	Gigi Fernández	Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	1–6, 6–1, 6–4
Winner	1997	Australian Open (3)	Hard	Martina Hingis	Lindsay Davenport Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–2
Winner	1997	French Open (6)	Clay	Gigi Fernández	Mary Joe Fernandez Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–3
Winner	1997	Wimbledon (5)	Grass	Gigi Fernández	Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf	7–6(4), 6–4
Runner-up	1997	US Open (1)	Hard	Gigi Fernández	Lindsay Davenport Jana Novotná	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	1998	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Martina Hingis Mirjana Lučić	6–4, 2–6, 6–3
Runner-up	1998	French Open (4)	Clay	Lindsay Davenport	Martina Hingis Jana Novotná	6–1, 7–6
Runner-up	1998	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	Lindsay Davenport	Martina Hingis Jana Novotná	6–3, 3–6, 8–6
Runner-up	1998	US Open (2)	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Martina Hingis Jana Novotná	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	1999	Australian Open (3)	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	7–5, 6–3

Mixed doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Winner	1990	Australian Open (1)	Hard	Jim Pugh	Zina Garrison Rick Leach	4–6, 6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	1990	US Open (1)	Hard	Jim Pugh	Elizabeth Smylie Todd Woodbridge	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	1991	Wimbledon (1)	Grass	Jim Pugh	Elizabeth Smylie John Fitzgerald	7–6(4), 6–2
Winner	1995	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Rick Leach	Gigi Fernández Cyril Suk	7–6(4), 6–7(3), 6–4

Titles (84)

Singles (4)

Legend

Tier II (2)

Tier III (1)

Tier IV (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	7 January 1990	Brisbane, Australia	Hard	Rachel McQuillan	6–4, 6–0
2.	14 January 1990	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Barbara Paulus	4–6, 6–1, 6–3
3.	13 February 1994	Chicago, USA	Carpet (i)	Chanda Rubin	6–3, 7–5
4.	20 June 1999	Eastbourne, UK	Grass	Nathalie Tauziat	0–6, 7–5, 6–3

Doubles (80)

Grand slam events in boldface.

1988: Birmingham (with Larisa Savchenko) 1988: Indianapolis VS of Indianapolis (Larisa Savchenko) 1989: Amelia Island (with Larisa Savchenko) 1989: French Open (with Larisa Savchenko) 1989: Birmingham (with Larisa Savchenko) 1989: Moscow (with Larisa Savchenko) 1989: Chicago (with Larisa Savchenko) 1990: Birmingham (with Larisa Savchenko) 1990: Eastbourne (with Larisa Savchenko) 1990: Orlando (with Larisa Savchenko) 1991: Boca Raton (with Larisa Savchenko) 1991: Hilton Head Island (with Claudia Kohde-Kilsch) 1991: Berlin (with Larisa Savchenko) 1991: Eastbourne (with Larisa Savchenko) 1991: Wimbledon (with Larisa Savchenko) 1991: Toronto (with Larisa Savchenko) 1991: Manhattan Beach (with Larisa Savchenko) 1991: US Open (with Pam Shriver) 1991: Brighton (with Pam Shriver) 1992: Boca Raton (with Larisa Savchenko) 1992: Hilton Head Island (with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario) 1992: Amelia Island (with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario) 1992: French Open (with Gigi Fernández) 1992: Wimbledon (with Gigi Fernández) 1992: US Open (with Gigi Fernández) 1992: Zürich (with Helena Suková) 1992: Oakland (with Gigi Fernández) 1992: Philadelphia (with Gigi Fernández) 1993: Australian Open (with Gigi Fernández) 1993: Delray Beach (with Gigi Fernández) 1993: Wesley Chapel (with Gigi Fernández) 1993: Hilton Head Island (with Gigi Fernández) 1993: Berlin (with Gigi Fernández) 1993: French Open (with Gigi Fernández) 1993: Eastbourne (with Gigi Fernández) 1993: Wimbledon (with Gigi Fernández) 1993: Leipzig (with Gigi Fernández) 1993: Filderstadt (with Gigi Fernández) 1993: Virginia Slims Championships (with Gigi Fernández) 1994: Australian Open (with Gigi Fernández)

1994: Chicago (with Gigi Fernández) 1994: Key Biscayne (with Gigi Fernández) 1994: Rome (with Gigi Fernández) 1994: Berlin (with Gigi Fernández) 1994: French Open (with Gigi Fernández) 1994: Eastbourne (with Gigi Fernández) 1994: Wimbledon (with Gigi Fernández) 1994: Filderstadt (with Gigi Fernández) 1994: Philadelphia (with Gigi Fernández) 1994: Virginia Slims Championships (with Gigi Fernández) 1995: Tokyo Pan Pacific (with Gigi Fernández) 1995: Rome (with Gigi Fernández) 1995: French Open (with Gigi Fernández) 1995: San Diego (with Gigi Fernández) 1995: Manhattan Beach (with Gigi Fernández) 1995: US Open (with Gigi Fernández) 1995: Filderstadt (with Gigi Fernández) 1996: Tokyo Pan Pacific (with Gigi Fernández) 1996: Manhattan Beach (with Lindsay Davenport) 1996: US Open (with Gigi Fernández) 1997: Australian Open (with Martina Hingis) 1997: Tokyo Pan Pacific (with Lindsay Davenport) 1997: Indian Wells (with Lindsay Davenport) 1997: Key Biscayne (with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario) 1997: Strasbourg (with Helena Suková) 1997: French Open (with Gigi Fernández) 1997: Wimbledon (with Gigi Fernández) 1997: Moscow (with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario) 1998: Indian Wells (with Lindsay Davenport) 1998: Berlin (with Lindsay Davenport) 1998: Stanford (with Lindsay Davenport) 1998: San Diego (with Lindsay Davenport) 1998: Los Angeles (with Martina Hingis) 1998: Filderstadt (with Lindsay Davenport) 1998: Moscow (with Mary Pierce) 1998: Chase Championships (with Lindsay Davenport) 1999: Tokyo Pan Pacific (with Lindsay Davenport) 2000: Hanover (with Åsa Svensson) 2000: Hamburg (with Anna Kournikova) 2002: Madrid (with Martina Navratilova)

Singles runner-ups (15)

Legend

Grand Slam (1)

Tier I (3)

Tier II (5)

Tier III (1)

Tier IV (1)

Tier V (1)

VS (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	9 November 1986	Little Rock, USA	Carpet (i)	Kathy Rinaldi	6–4, 6–7(7), 6–0
2.	8 November 1987	Little Rock, USA	Carpet (i)	Sandra Cecchini	0–6, 6–1, 6–3
3.	15 November 1987	Chicago, USA	Carpet (i)	Martina Navratilova	6–1, 6–2
4.	5 June 1988	French Open, Paris	Clay	Steffi Graf	6–0, 6–0
5.	19 June 1988	Eastbourne, UK	Grass	Martina Navratilova	6–2, 6–2
6.	21 August 1988	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Gabriela Sabatini	6–1, 6–2
7.	6 November 1988	Worchester, US	Carpet (i)	Martina Navratilova	6–7(4), 6–4, 6–3
8.	9 April 1989	Hilton Head Island, USA	Clay	Steffi Graf	6–1, 6–1
9.	15 October 1989	Moscow, USSR	Carpet (i)	Gretchen Magers	6–3, 6–4
10.	16 June 1991	Birmingham, UK	Grass	Martina Navratilova	6–4, 7–6(6)
11.	17 October 1993	Filderstadt, Germany	Carpet (i)	Mary Pierce	6–3, 6–3
12.	20 March 1994	Key Biscayne, USA	Hard	Steffi Graf	4–6, 6–1, 6–2
13.	3 April 1994	Hilton Head Island, USA	Clay	Conchita Martínez	6–4, 6–0
14.	9 October 1994	Zürich, Switzerland	Carpet (i)	Magdalena Maleeva	7–5, 3–6, 6–4
15.	5 March 1995	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Mary Joe Fernandez	6–4, 6–3

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	Career SR
Australian Open	A	A	A	2R	4R	2R	3R	1R	QF	1R	3R	3R	3R	2R	A	A	0 / 11
French Open	3R	F	1R	4R	2R	QF	4R	4R	1R	3R	4R	2R	2R	4R	A	A	0 / 14
Wimbledon	4R	4R	3R	QF	2R	QF	QF	1R	3R	2R	1R	SF	2R	2R	A	1R	0 / 15
US Open	3R	1R	4R	2R	4R	3R	QF	A	4R	3R	3R	2R	2R	A	A	A	0 / 12
SR	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 52

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

References

1. ^ Zvereva Shows She Can Still Beat the Odds
2. ^ "WTA Website: Martina Navratilova Player Bio."
3. ^ WTA Website: Natasha Zvereva Player Bio"
4. ^ Terrible Two
5. ^ Nominations for Group I and II zonal events
6. ^ Zvereva: Half An Elephant's Better
7. ^ 1997 US Open and Prediction
8. ^ Zvereva Shows She Can Still Beat The Odds
9. ^ Zvereva: Half an Elephant's Better

External links

• Natasha Zvereva at the Women's Tennis Association
• Natasha Zvereva at the Fed Cup
• Zvereva fined during Wimbledon 2000 for making obscene gestures at the crowd after her team was defeated by Venus and Serena Williams in the women's doubles semifinals

Persondata
Name	Zvereva, Natasha
Alternative names
Short description	Belarusian tennis player
Date of birth	16 April 1971
Place of birth	Minsk, Belarus
Date of death
Place of death