Tennis player Yaroslava Shvedova is a native of Moscow, who until August 2008 played for Russia, and then began to represent Kazakhstan. His best results in Grand Slam tournaments are the quarterfinals at Roland Garros (2010, 2012) and Wimbledon (2016) in singles and the victory at the US Open (2010) and Wimbledon (2010) in pairs, the highest position. high in the WTA ranking. is – 25 place.
Shvedova retired in 2021 at the age of 34. The Muscovite performed with dignity on the court. She wasn’t a superstar of the first magnitude, but she was noted for her most unique achievement at Wimbledon 2012, which, if it is to be repeated in tennis history, is unlikely to happen anytime soon. This is the “golden set” on TBSh.
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Shvedova did not immediately realize that she had won the “golden set”
Shvedova in the third round of Wimbledon 2012 easily defeated the Italian Sara Errani with a score of 6:0, 6:4. Shuttlecock dueling isn’t an outlandish thing in women’s tennis, but Shvedova pulled off a clean-sets win in a unique way.
Yaroslava became the first tennis player in the history of Grand Slam tournaments to win the Golden Set, that is, without losing a single point for the game. During this set, which lasted 15 minutes, Shvedova completed four aces and 14 winners. It should be noted that Errani only made one unforced error, which makes Yaroslav’s achievement all the more impressive.
Yaroslava Shvedova at Wimbledon 2012
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
It should also be noted that Shvedova got a “golden set” at a not very early stage of the TBSH in the confrontation with a very serious opponent. Sara Errani had lost to Maria Sharapova in the Roland Garros final a few weeks earlier and remained a steady top 10 player in the rankings. At the time of the match, Shvedova was racket number 65 in the world, Errani was ninth.
Shvedova admitted that during the game she had no idea of her outstanding achievement.
“When in the second set I played to the net and everyone applauded, I thought: ‘What is it?’ I even smiled. I decided that the public just wanted to see a good game. And when the coach later came up to me and explained what the problem was, I was like, “What, really?!” Not a single unforced error or a single lost point? It’s just something,” Shvedova said.
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With Errani at Wimbledon 2012, some mystical things were going on. First, in a good context for her. Sarah’s match in the first round with the American Coco Vandewey (6: 1, 6: 3) was rescheduled for the next day at the Italian match point. After play resumed, Vandewey immediately double-faulted. As a result, Errani won the match in seven seconds without touching the ball. And then Sarah had to experience the unenviable fate of the victim of the “golden set”. It was hard for the Italian to believe that such an achievement was possible even in tennis on TBSh.
“I think this is the main news of the day: I didn’t take a single set point. Incredible. It is practically impossible. But Shvedova showed that you can play with such confidence that no matter what you do, everything hits. It was impossible to fight Yaroslava. I don’t think I played that bad. She just walked in from anywhere. She has such a serve and such a hit, who knows she? Maybe she will win Wimbledon,” Errani said.
Sara Errani at Wimbledon 2012
Photo: Paul Gilham/Getty Images
American Sam Querrey, who lost in the third round of Wimbledon 2012 to Croatian Marin Cilic (6:7, 4:6, 7:6, 7:6, 15:17), became a participant in the second longest match. of history. of the tournament – 5 hours and 31 minutes. Only John Isner and Nicolas Mayut have played longer on London grass courts, back in 2010, when they set what is probably the unbeatable record for the length of a tennis match (11 hours and 5 minutes). At the same time, the match between Cilic and Querry became the longest Wimbledon match played in one day.
Querry acknowledged that the match between Isner and Mayu is a unique event in tennis, to which his matchup with Cilic fell short. However, she put Shvedova’s “golden ensemble” on the same level as him.
“We played a normal game. Isner and Mayu set the bar very high. It’s hard to get over them. Well, that is, even if you finish the game until 30:28, it will still be like the moon before the record. Shvedova did not drop a single point in a set. It’s amazing. I think it’s just as unbelievable as the Isner-Mayu matchup,” Querry said.
Titled American Serena Williams, who became Yaroslav’s opponent in the fourth round, was also impressed by Shvedova’s achievement.
“When they told me about the ‘golden set’, I thought: Shvedova won four majors and the Olympics? I thought that this could not be, but this is the only “golden” thing I knew. Yaroslava is an excellent tennis player. I’ve met her before and she knows everything. I’m looking forward to the game. I hope I can earn at least one point per game. This will be my first goal, and then we’ll see,” Williams said.
Serena Williams eliminated Yaroslava Shvedova from Wimbledon 2012
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Serena defeated Shvedova (6:1, 2:6, 7:5) and eventually became the 2012 Wimbledon champion. An embarrassing loss for Yaroslava, but the 24-year-old Muscovite had more reason to be happy. Not only because of the “golden set”. Access to the fourth round is at that time the best result for her at Wimbledon, before that there was a quarterfinal at Roland Garros with a victory over the current tournament champion Li Na. Solid, considering that in 2011, Shvedova underwent knee surgery, as a result of which, at the beginning of the 2012 season, she fell out of the top 200. Yaroslava finished the year in the top 30 and won the WTA Comeback of the Year.
The highlight of her productive season Shvedova called the “golden ensemble” in the match with Errani at Wimbledon. She wasn’t the only one who thought that. In late 2012, Shvedova’s “golden ensemble” was recognized by international media as one of the biggest moments in sport. For example, the authoritative US portal ESPN ranked this achievement 14th among the 100 best tennis events of 2012, and in Sports Illustrated magazine’s list, it ranks 87th of the 110 most memorable sports moments of 2012, when the Olympic Games The games were full of events.
The uniqueness of Shvedova’s achievement by historical standards.
“Golden sets” and even matches are often found in various futures and ITF series tournaments. But at the highest level they are extremely rare, and in the main draw of the Grand Slam tournament the probability of seeing them is close to zero. It is quite possible that in our lifetime no one will be able to live up to Shvedova. For clarity, here are some “golden sets” in more or less serious competitions, which are still much worse than “Helmets”.
The first recorded “golden set” in tennis occurred at a tournament in Delray Beach in 1983, when American Bill Scanlon defeated World No. 37 Marcos Hocevar 6:2, 6:0. Scanlon entered the Guinness Book of Records as the first person to win the “golden ensemble”. Although in 2004 the marketing director of the Cincinnati Masters, Phillip Smith, published a book in which he claimed that the first case was in 1943. Then, in the final of this tournament, Pauline Betz defeated Catherine Wolf with a score of 6 :0, 6:2, where he did not lose a single point in the first game. This was before the start of the Open Era, so Scanlon was not removed from the Book of Records.
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In 1995, the Danish Tina Scheuer-Larsen defeated Mmafala Letsatle from Botswana in a Fed Cup match with a score of 6:0, 6:0, the first game went “gold”. She earned a set shutout in all games.
This was followed by Shvedova’s achievement at Wimbledon 2012, which could have made this list even earlier. In 2006, at the US indoor national tournament in Memphis, Yaroslava won 23 straight points in the first set against American Amy Fraser. With the score 5:0 and 40:0, Shvedova double-errored her serve and eventually lost the game. She took the first set, but eventually fell apart and lost the match with two “flyers”: 6:1, 0:6, 0:6.
In 2014, the German Julian Reister in qualifying for the US Open beat his compatriot Tim Putz with a score of 6:7, 6:4, 6:0. He won the Golden Set in 22 minutes, becoming the first tennis player in the world to do so in a decisive match. He wasn’t the main draw for TBSH, so it’s impossible to put Raister’s achievement on the same level as Shvedova’s.
Yaroslava Shvedova with an award for the “golden ensemble” at Wimbledon
Photo: From the personal archive of Yaroslava Shvedova.
In the 2015 Todi Challenger qualification, 20-year-old Stefano Napolitano beat Augusto Virgili 6-0, 6-3, winning the first 33 points. In 2016, at the Challenger qualification in Qingdao, the Chinese He Yekon defeated his compatriot Wang Honghan – 6:0, 6:0. The Golden Set happened in the second game.
Shvedova herself would probably have exchanged her “golden outfit” for at least one win at any of the Grand Slam tournaments. However, there is no denying the uniqueness of her achievement. Once again it is advisable to repeat: it is not a fact that our generation will see this in the life of her in the main draw of the Grand Slam tournament.
