Starting on December 7—the 25th day left in 2010—TENNIS.com will countdown from the year-end No. 25 on both tours with "The Last Word," a look back at the year that was and a look ahead at the season to come. Here's who we've looked at so far.
Best of 2010
No doubt about it: Wimbledon, where Zvonareva had back-to-back-to back wins over Yanina Wickmayer, Jelena Jankovic and Kim Clijsters and made the final, only to lose to Serena Williams.
Worst of 2010
A first-round loss in Rome was bad enough, but she squandered a good opportunity in her career year at the French Open, losing in the second round to Anastasia Rodionova.
Year in Review
Zvonareva had a dream year that is also destined to revisit her in the form of nightmares. After all, she made six finals, two of them Grand Slam events, but won just one—Pattaya City, the most negligible of them all, by far. That’s in Thailand, in case you don’t have Google Maps open. Oh, we could go over her record and parse round-by-round results, which contained far more highs than lows. But in the end, she beat the Clijsters’ and Wozniacki’s, but never when it counted the most. A woman who lost the Wimbledon final to Serena and the U.S. Open final to Clijsters has no reason to cry, but the way her year unfolded, you can’t blame Zvonareva for turning on the spigots. She must keep asking herself, “Why me? Why am I the one destined to do everything right but never get the big trophy?”
See for Yourself
Let’s focus on the good things, shall we? Here’s a clip that shows Zvonareva’s versatility in her win over Caroline Wozniacki in the U.S. Open semis:
The Last Word
Zvonareva has the toughest row imaginable to hoe in 2011. Her consistency and performance in big events in 2010 were exemplary; she was far more reliable than ever before. She took down some big names, and kept the heat on for most of the year. But she has an awful lot of points to defend next year, which amounts to much more pressure. And it’s not like she can, like Francesca Schiavone, fall back on the comfort that nobody can take away that Grand Slam title she earned. She’ll need to be unusually tough-minded to resist the bitter aftertaste of missed opportunities.
—Peter Bodo