Is a Major on the Horizon for Zvonareva?

Ranked #2 in the world and with her confidence riding high, twenty-six year old Russian, Vera Zvonareva is poised to win a Grand Slam title in 2011 and it might be in Australia.

Zvonareva recovered from a career-threatening sequence of injuries to become one of the biggest surprises of 2010, winning close to 50 matches and moving up the world rankings to a career high.  With a favorable draw in Melbourne until the quarter-finals when she may meet Samantha Stosur, Zvonareva feels this might be her time.

She reached the Wimbledon and US Open finals by beating leading players, including world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, US Open champion Kim Clijsters and former world number one Jelena Jankovic.
The Russian has one doubles and two mixed-doubles Grand Slam titles -- at Wimbledon and at the US Open -- but it's the singles major she wants.  To get this major, she might even cut down on some of her doubles play.  "I have to use my strength and make sure I'm fresh for the most important matches," she said. "And maybe I will cut down on doubles a little bit more this year, because it takes a lot of energy."

Zvonareva is a "thinking woman's" player and she hopes she won't analyze her game too much.  "I think when I play naturally I play my best tennis," she said after losing her first competitive match of 2011 at the Sydney International this week.

As for what it takes to be a grand slam champion, the Muscovite, who combines her tennis with studies for a postgraduate degree in international economic relations, had clearly given the subject plenty of thought.

"You have to know yourself well," she said. "You have to know how hard you want to work throughout those two weeks. What exactly do you have to do to bring your best in the last stages of the grand slams.

Zvonareva has been training hard and hopes she is peaking three Saturdays from now.