Natalya Zvereva is a titled Soviet tennis player, four-time winner of the Roland Garros pair tournaments (1992-1995) and Wimbledon (1991-1994), a bronze medalist at the 1992 Olympic Games. It occupies an honorable place in the lists of the worldwide tennis hall of fame.
Early biography
Natalya Zvereva was born in 1971 in Minsk. She was brought up in a sports family. Father Marat Nikolaevich Zverev from an early age taught Natasha the game of tennis and instilled in her perseverance against fears and prejudices. According to the memoirs of the famous athlete, his father was a strict and straightforward person, his whole life was connected with tennis, so his daughter's training took several hours and was held almost daily. Despite this, Natalya managed to preserve such qualities as modesty, kindness and femininity.
Zvereva was not equal in junior competitions, and she quickly qualified already for serious international tournaments. By the age of 20 years, in 1991, Natalia won an impressive victory at Wimbledon and took first place in the women's doubles ranking. This gave her an unconditional ticket to the 1992 Olympics, in which the athlete was awarded a bronze medal.
Further Achievements
In total, Natalya Zvereva 36 times defended the country's honor at the Grand Slam tournaments in all categories, reaching the final. This is the highest indicator for the period of tennis sports in the USSR. For 1992-1993, Zvereva in doubles submitted six Grand Slam tournaments. Considering all the major competitions, including Wimbledon, from 1992 to 1994 she won nine doubles Grand Slam tournaments.
Until 1999, Zvereva continued to show impressive results, winning 17 tournaments. In 1996 and 2000, she participated in the Olympic Games, but failed to win prizes. Regardless of the results of the games, huge attention from the public has always been riveted to the girl. Journalists have repeatedly asked Natalia what is the secret of her incredible stamina and perseverance on the field. In response, she said that she managed to develop the will to win and the desire for new heights since childhood. The main thing is only to learn to conquer fear and insecurity in yourself.
