When Russian, Vera Zvonareva agreed to accept a wild card into the Connecticut Open last week, it marked her first WTA event since 2015. She is currently ranked No. 746.
The former world No. 2, beset by a plethora of career injuries, plays 35 year-old Australian, Anastasia Rodionova today. Rodionova was born in Russia.
Zvonareva had a career year in 2010, reaching the finals of both Wimbledon and the US Open and rising to No. 2 in the world. She was one win away from being world No. 1. She won a Bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2008 WTA Tour Championships. She has won 12 WTA career singles titles and has an 8-2 Fed Cup record.
The Russian married in 2016 and had a child and played no tennis events.
At the age of 32, she was ambivalent about coming back to tennis, but decided to give it a shot and played only fair, in a couple of lower rung ITF events earlier in the year in March and jumped at the opportunity to compete at a far higher level in New Haven.
“We’ll see how it goes, because I don’t have too many other plans beyond US Open qualifying.” She did earn a Master’s degree from Northeastern, in her years off the Tour.
Zvonareva will be in New York on August 22 in an attempt to win three matches in a row, to qualify for the main draw, which begins August 28.