Vera Zvonareva made a surprise return to tennis after not playing a match for 18 months.
Zvonareva is a former world number two, who reached the finals of both Wimbledon and the US Open in 2010.
The Russian has also enjoyed success on the doubles court, with Zvonareva winning five Grand Slam doubles titles.
While it is not the first time she has made a comeback, not many were expecting Zvonareva to return in the fashion that she has at 41 years old.
Vera Zvonareva climbs over 800 places in the WTA rankings in return to tennis
Zvonareva’s last competitive match prior to last week was at the 2024 French Open, where she reached the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles tournament alongside Mirra Andreeva before giving a walkover.
Many had assumed that Zvonareva had quietly retired from tennis in her absence from the WTA Tour, but she instead received a wildcard to play in both singles and doubles at the 100k ITF event in Dubai, where she now resides.
Zvonareva showed that class is permanent, and made it all the way to the finals of both the singles and doubles tournaments.
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Although she was unable to take home the champion’s trophy in either event, Zvonareva has been rewarded for her impressive week in Dubai.
After not competing for over a year, Zvonareva has gone from being unranked to the world number 654, jumping a huge 817 ranking places.
Zvonareva has also climbed up to world number 796 in the doubles rankings in another significant rise.
It is currently unclear as to what is next for the 41-year-old, but Zvonareva has shown that she still has what it takes to compete at a high level.
WTA player who beat Iga Swiatek in her first final jumps over 300 places in the rankings
Zvonareva is not the only player who has made a huge jump up the WTA rankings this week, even in the latter stages of the 2025 season.
Slovenian player Polona Hercog has been ranked as high as world number 35, and has won three WTA singles titles in her career.
The most recent of those three titles saw Hercog beating Iga Swiatek in her first WTA final.
However, injuries have played havoc with Hercog in recent years, and she was ranked outside the top 900 in just October.
After going on a five-match losing streak, the 34-year-old has started to turn things around during the South American WTA 125 clay court swing.
This was highlighted at the lower-level event in Quito, Ecuador, where Hercog went on to win her first ever title at this level.
After beating Argentinian teenager Luisina Giovannini in the final, Hercog has won the biggest title of her career and climbed 339 places up the rankings to world number 333.
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Hercog appears to want to keep this momentum going, as she is still entered into two ITF events this year in India.
The comebacks will be continuing this week, as two-time Grand Slam singles champion Barbora Krejcikova plays her first tournament in over two months.
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