Bandage Tearing Zvonareva Melts Down in Pennetta Loss
FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. – Vera Zvonareva’s crying and temperamental fits are legendary, but she surpassed herself on Sunday night at the US Open, when she swore, cried, smacked herself in the head and the leg and let go of six match points in a 3-6 7-6 (6) 6-0 loss to Flavia Pennetta.
The Russian held four match points at 6-5 in the second set, but played way too passively and the much-improved Italian took it to her. The same thing occurred in the tiebreaker when Zvonareva held another two match points at 6-4 and continued to push, while Pennetta took any short balls and hammered the to the corners.
After the second set went way, Zvonareva completely lost it, crying in the during her bathroom breaks and then when she returned to the court, began to throw fits. She started to tear at the bandages on her knees, leaving pieces of them all over the court. She dropped three f-bombs on chair umpire Lynn Welch (she only received one warning), who was within the rules when she told Zvonareva during the changeover at 1-0 in the third set that she couldn’t stop and take a pair of scissors and cut off the bandages that she thought were restricting her movement.
“I think it was stupid because I didn’t ask anyone to do it for me and I wanted to cut it because [the tape] was bothering me on edges there,” she said.
Zvonareva remarkably denied she lost her temper, but later conceded that she made some wrong-headed decisionsShe continued to tear small pieces of the bandages off anyway, and at one point when she couldn’t track down a Pennetta blast to the corner and went into a split, sat on the court and smacked her leg again and again. “She’s always like this,” said Pennetta, who was treated for a back injury. “I know her. She can cry on the court, and then next point she fight and she play good tennis. She was just angry because she lost the tiebreak. With six match points, it’s quite normal.”
When the Russian finally got the bandages re-wrapped on the 0-3 changeover, she clubbed the side of her head again and again with her right hand.
“It was my stupid decision,” she said of the reason why she was smacking herself. “ I should have called trainer at the beginning of the second set and could have redone the tape then. I was so bothered and not able to put mind in match and in 10 minutes, I’m 3-0 down. I lost the concentration totally because I knew I didn’t have physical abilities for third set halfway through the second set. I should have done something different. My legs were cramping when the tape too tight, but if it’s not wrapped tight I have pain. I was trying to relax and you’re your brain is concentrating on something that’s bothering you it’s difficult to concentrate on what do and at this level you need to think about how to beat an opponent and not how to push off on a serve. I’m mature enough and I’ll know the next time to call the trainer when something is bothering me and if I can’t put my head into match. I didn’t think right. I’m not used to calling the trainer and didn’t know not know what to do at that point.”
With her head wrapped in a towel, the 24-year-old Zvonareva cried again, and the woman who early this year said she has largely gained control of her emotions looked like the same Russian who once cried for a good two minutes back in 2004 at the US Open after winning a set, and the one who in the same year, cracked her racket again and again, launched balls over the La Costa club house and wept liberally when Anastasia Myskina fought off nine match points and pulled off a remarkable 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (15) victory over her in the semis.
“I was fighting the best I could, but physically I couldn’t do it, I was trying my best and she was always playing an extra shot. She played really well. On the match points maybe I could have done something different and taken more risks but then sometimes you risk and miss and then you think you should play with more patience. She was better at those points. I don’t have regrets.”
All credit to Pennetta for the victory, because even though she served terribly in the first two sets, she played brilliantly with her back up against the wall. She adeptly changed direction of her shots late in the second set and finally started moving forward and gaining control of the pair’s endless, hard-hitting side to side rallies
She’ll be a significant underdog against Serena Williams, but she’s game, steady and much more offense than she was, which is why she became the first Italian woman to crack the top 10.
“She’s I think, the best player,” Pennetta said of Serena. “She’s strong. Today she was playing unbelievable against Hantuchova. I have to play very aggressive and very good for beat her. But I don’t have anything to lose, so I can go on the court and enjoy and try to play my tennis and that’s it. I just play one time against her in Miami two years ago. I lost 6 3 in the third and it was a pretty good match, so we will see.”
© TennisReporters.net 2009
