Natasha Zvereva
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| Country |  Soviet Union and Belarus |
|
| Residence | Minsk | |
| Date of birth | April 16, 1971 | |
| Place of birth | Minsk | |
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 81⁄2 in) | |
| Weight | 62 kg (140 lb/9.8 st) | |
| Turned Pro | May 1988 | |
| Retired | 2002 | |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) | |
| Career Prize Money | US$7,792,503 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 434-252 | |
| Career titles: | 4 WTA, 3 ITF | |
| Highest ranking: | n/a | |
| 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: | 1 (1994) | |
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Women’s Tennis | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competitor for the  Unified Team |
|||
| Bronze | 1992 Barcelona | doubles | |
Natalya "Natasha" Zvereva (Belarusian: Наталля Зверава, Russian: Наташа Зверева; born April 16, 1971) is a retired tennis player from Belarus. Playing initially for the Soviet Union, Zvereva won many doubles titles during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.
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 U.S. 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 U.S. Open, five at the French Open, and four at the Australian Open. She won those Grand Slam doubles titles with four different partners: Gigi Fernandez, Martina Hingis, Pam Shriver, and Larissa Neiland-Savchenko. She is one of only three women to have won at least four women's doubles titles at each Grand Slam tournament, the others being Martina Navratilova and Shriver.
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 Sukova in the quarter-final 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, 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 recently appeared on the invitations doubles event in 2007.
Contents |
[edit] Grand Slam singles final
[edit] Runner-up (1)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1988 | French Open |  Steffi Graf |
6–0, 6–0 |
[edit] 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 |
| U.S. 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.
[edit] External links
- Natasha Zvereva profile on the WTA Tour's official website
- Fed Cup profile for Natasha Zvereva
- 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
