Vera Igorevna Zvonareva (Russian: Вера Игоревна Звонарёва, IPA: [ˈvʲerə ˈiɡərʲɪvnə zvənɐˈrʲɵvə] ; born 7 September 1984) is a Russian professional tennis player. Her career-high singles ranking is world No. 2, and No. 7 in doubles by the WTA. Zvonareva has won twelve singles titles, including the 2009 Indian Wells Open, and reached the finals of the 2008 WTA Tour Championships, 2010 Wimbledon Championships, and 2010 US Open. She was also a bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In doubles, Zvonareva has won five major titles. Three came in women's doubles, first at the 2006 US Open, partnering Nathalie Dechy, and the 2012 Australian Open, with Svetlana Kuznetsova. Following her return to tennis, Zvonareva won her third women's doubles major title at the 2020 US Open, partnering Laura Siegemund. Her other two major titles came in mixed doubles, the first at the 2004 US Open with Bob Bryan, and her second at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, with Andy Ram. She also won the doubles title at the 2023 WTA Finals partnering Siegemund.
Zvonareva was born in 1984 in Moscow to Igor Zvonarev and Natalia Bykova. Igor played Bandy in the USSR championship with Dynamo Moscow, and Nataliya played field hockey and was the bronze medalist at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Zvonareva was introduced to tennis at age six by her mother.
1999–2002: Early career, ITF titles and top 50
Zvonareva started to compete on the ITF Women's Circuit in 1999, debuting at a tournament in Tbilisi, Georgia. She won three qualifying matches there to reach the main draw before losing in the first round.
The following year 2000, she turned professional and won an ITF event in Moscow, without dropping a set, despite being unranked. The event was just the second event she had played in her professional career. Five weeks later, she made her WTA-level debut at the Tier I tournament in Moscow, beating world No. 148, Elena Bovina, before losing to world No. 11, Anna Kournikova, in the second round. In 2001, she failed to qualify for WTA Tour events in Key Biscayne and Moscow, but reached a semifinal at the ITF tournament in Civitanova, Italy. During this time, she won the Orange Bowl Under-18s event in 2000 and 2001.
In 2002, Zvonareva won her second ITF title in Naples, Florida and in July reached her first singles final on the WTA Tour at Palermo, losing to Mariana Díaz Oliva, in three sets. She also achieved semifinal finishes in Warsaw and Sopot, plus a quarterfinal finish in Bol, Croatia. Zvonareva won three qualifying matches at the French Open to reach the main draw for the first time at a Grand Slam tournament. She lost there in the fourth round to eventual champion, Serena Williams, in three sets. Her ranking was high enough for a direct entry into the Wimbledon Championships, where she lost in the second round to the 23rd seed Iva Majoli. At the US Open, Zvonareva lost to world No. 7, Kim Clijsters, in the third round. Her ranking rose into the top 100 after the French Open and into the top 50 after the US Open.
2003–2004: Major singles quarterfinal & doubles title, top 10
In 2003, Zvonareva won the title at the Tier-III event in Bol, beating Conchita Martínez Granados in the final, and reached three other semifinals (including the Tier-II event in Linz). She defeated a top-10 player for the first time when she beat world No. 10, Anastasia Myskina, in Berlin. At the French Open, Zvonareva defeated world No. 3, Venus Williams, in the fourth round, before losing in the quarterfinals to world No. 76, Nadia Petrova. Her French Open results caused her ranking to enter the top 20. She reached the quarterfinals in six out of the seven Tier I events she contested. Her debut for Russia in Fed Cup was in the World Group quarterfinals against Slovenia. Russia won 5–0, but lost to France 2–3 in the semifinals. In doubles, she reached her first WTA Tour final at Moscow with Myskina. She ended the year ranked No. 13.
In 2004, Zvonareva won her first career Grand Slam title, winning the mixed doubles competition at the US Open with Bob Bryan. She won one singles title, in Memphis and reached the final of the events in Cincinnati and Philadelphia, losing to top-10 players Lindsay Davenport and Amélie Mauresmo. In the final of the Memphis event, Zvonareva trailed hometown favorite Lisa Raymond 5–2 in the third set, before saving three match points and winning the last five games of the match to win the title. In addition to this, she reached the semifinals of three Tier-I tournaments in Rome, San Diego, and Montreal. She lost in San Diego to fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina in a match that featured a final set tiebreak that ended 17–15. Zvonareva and Myskina teamed in the final of the Fed Cup, playing in the crucial final rubber against Marion Bartoli and Émilie Loit, which the pair won, 7–6, 7–5, to seal Russia's first Fed Cup title.
Zvonareva ended 2004 the year ranked world No. 11. In August, she reached her then-career high of world No. 9. Because of several withdrawals, Zvonareva was able to compete at the WTA Championships, an event reserved for the top eight players in the world. She was unable to win a match and exited at the round-robin stage.
Zvonareva obtained an invitation from the Hong Kong Tennis Patrons' Association to play in the Watsons Water Champions Challenge. She defended her Memphis title, defeating Meghann Shaughnessy but she was injured in the second half of 2005. Her ranking dropped from No. 11 to 42.
2006: Two major doubles titles
In 2006, Zvonareva won her first women's doubles major tournament at the US Open, partnering Nathalie Dechy of France. She won a second mixed doubles title at Wimbledon, partnering Andy Ram of Israel. They defeated Bob Bryan and Venus Williams, in straight sets. She garnered some success in singles competition, winning two titles in a season for the first time in her career. This included her first tournament win on grass, at the Birmingham Classic in England. Her other title came in Cincinnati, where she played a nearly flawless match against Serena Williams in the semifinals, and beat Katarina Srebotnik in the final.
The 2007 season was a year of mixed fortune for Zvonareva. At Indian Wells, she stunned world No. 1, Maria Sharapova, who was the defending champion, in three sets in the fourth round, marking her first victory over a reigning world No. 1. However, she fell in the next round to Li Na. At her next tournament, the Charleston Open, she retired when playing Dinara Safina and down a set, due to a left wrist injury. This injury kept her out of the European clay-court season, the grass-court season, and most of the North American hard-court season. On returning to the tour, she reached the third round of the US Open, losing to Serena Williams. At the remaining tournaments on her schedule, she reached the quarterfinals or better at four out of five, with semifinal finishes in Luxembourg and Quebec. Her one final came during the first week of the year, in Auckland, New Zealand.
2008: Back to top 10, Olympic bronze, WTA Finals finalist
Zvonareva began the year by losing to wildcard Marina Erakovic, then ranked world No. 153, at Auckland, and then reached the final of the Hobart International. She did not play the final against Eleni Daniilidou because of an ankle injury, and this injury also forced her to retire in her first-round match at the Australian Open against Ai Sugiyama, trailing 3–6, 1–1.
She then reached the final of the Tier I Qatar Open in Doha, beating Dinara Safina, Sybille Bammer, and Li Na along the way. In the final against world No. 5 and fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova, Zvonareva lost in three sets. In March, at the Bangalore Open, Zvonareva lost in the quarterfinals to Venus Williams. Zvonareva then reached the quarterfinals of the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, before losing to eventual champion Ana Ivanovic, 1–6, 4–6. Two weeks later, Zvonareva reached the semifinals of the Tier I Miami Open in Key Biscayne, where she lost to fourth seed Jelena Janković, 1–6, 4–6.