Irina Zvereva (née Fateeva; ; born 11 April 1967) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player who represented the Soviet Union and the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...

. She competed in the doubles event at the 1990 Moscow Open, a tournament on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...

, losing her opening match to

Denisa Krajčovičová Denisa Krajčovičová (born 18 November 1968) is a former professional tennis player from Slovakia. From 1991 to 1996, she was known under her married name Denisa Szabová. Biography Krajčovičová began playing professionally in the late 1980s ...

and

Alice Noháčová Alice Noháčová (born 20 June 1967) is a Czech former professional tennis player. Biography Born in Prague, Noháčová started out on the professional tour in the late 1980s. From 1989, she began making the main draw of WTA Tour events, where ...

while partnering with compatriot

Elena Pogorelova Elena Pogorelova (born 16 September 1969) is a Russian former professional tennis player. Pogorelova played on the professional tour in the early 1990s, with a best singles ranking of 508 in the world. As a doubles player she won two ITF titles ...

. Zvereva was ranked as high as No. 4 in her country, and was known for her one-handed backhand. Zvereva resides in Germany and has German citizenship. Her husband Alexander Mikhailovich Zverev is a former Soviet professional tennis player. Her sons

Mischa Zverev Mikhail "Mischa" Alexandrovich Zverev (russian: Михаил "Миша" Александрович Зверев, , ; born 22 August 1987) is a German professional tennis player born in Russia. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world ...

and

Alexander Zverev Alexander "Sascha" Zverev (; born 20 April 1997) is a German professional tennis player. He has been ranked by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as high as world No. 2, and was continuously ranked in the top 10 from July 2017 to N ...

are both German professional tennis players.

Tennis career

Zvereva's career was limited while living in the Soviet Union. The government restricted when Zvereva and her husband could leave the country to compete in international tournaments. In particular, they were not allowed to leave the country at the same time. After leaving the Soviet Union to go to Germany in 1991, Zvereva began representing the

and had more opportunity to enter events on the

ITF Women's Circuit The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players. History It serves as a developmental ...

. She reached five singles finals on the circuit, winning one title against German Anja Franken in Germany. Three of the five singles finals were in Germany, while the other two were in Greece. Her last runner-up came against

Julia Apostoli Julia Sergeyevna Apostoli ( Salnikova (Russian: Юлия Сергеевна Апостоли, Greek: Τζούλια Σεργκέιεβνα Αποστόλη; born 13 August 1964) is a Russian-born Greek former professional tennis player who represe ...

, a fellow Soviet emigrant as well as the mother of

Stefanos Tsitsipas Stefanos Tsitsipas ( gr, Στέφανος Τσιτσιπάς, ; born 12 August 1998) is a Greek professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on 9 ...

, a rival of her son

ITF finals

Singles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

National championships finals

Doubles (0–1)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zvereva, Irina 1967 births Living people Soviet female tennis players Russian female tennis players Soviet emigrants to Germany Russian emigrants to Germany Naturalized citizens of Germany Sportspeople from Sochi