Vid: A serve in progress for Vera Zvonareva

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Once again, Vera Zvonareva will be in the Indian Wells qualifying.

And it’s too bad, because with her current ranking of No. 81, she would be close to straight in. And her ranking as of the qualifying deadline, No. 76, would definitely have gotten her in. 

Two of the three players entered in the qualifying who are ranked higher than she is – Amanda Anisimova and  Bianca Andreescu – received wild cards into the main draw.

Of course, they are teenagers on the rise. Meanwhile, the 34-year-old Zvonareva is giving it one last good go, having returned slowly and surely from basically zero after having her first child.

Good February for Zvonareva

Zvonareva is coming off winning the doubles title in Budapest. Teamed with countrywoman Ekaterina Alexandrova, they won three matches in match tiebreaks, and the other one in two tiebreaks.

Before that, the former world No. 2 reached the semis in singles in St. Petersburg. She defeated Julia Goerges, Ekaterina Makarova and Daria Kasatkina along the way, before losing to Donna Vekic.

Zvonareva is playing a lot of tennis – she took part in 21 events in 2018, and … (well, we can’t tell you what ranking she had at the start of the year and where she ended, nor can we even give you the highlights of her 2018 season. Because none of that is currently available on the WTA Tour website. Sigh).

A year ago, Zvonareva qualified for the Indian Wells main draw for the first time in three years. But she lost in the first round to Natalia Vikhlyantseva.

She’ll hope to do better this year.  

Here’s what she looked like out on the practice court, working on her serve with coach Arnaud Decugis.

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Stephanie Myles

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