Natasha Chmyreva
Full name: Natalya Yuryevna Chmyreva
Nickname: Natasha
Alias: Natalya Yuryevna Chmyreva
Nickname: Natasha
Alias: Natalya Yuryevna Chmyreva
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| Bio | She was a Russian tennis player who won 1975 and 1976 Wimbledon girls' singles championships and 1975 US Open girls' singles championship. In 1975, Natasha Chmyreva reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, losing to Martina Navratilova. In 1976, she reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. Her last international match was against Tracy Austin at the Fed Cup in 1979. She was considered a child prodigy in her sport in the 1970s and made her senior debut at the 1973 French Open at the age of just 14. Later, she won three Grand Slam junior tournaments, a gold medal at the Summer Universiade, a Soviet championship title, and reached the semifinals of the Australian Open. Due to political headwinds and the resulting setbacks—her strong emphasis on individuality clashed with the ideas of the Soviet Federation—she ended her career early and without any major success as a professional. Chmyryova learned to play tennis at the age of seven under the guidance of her parents. Her parents, who were experienced in sports education, recognized her great talent early on and encouraged her. Soon, the girl was considered a Russian prodigy and a new talent. Indeed, she initially lived up to these expectations. She performed particularly impressively on hard courts. Chmyryova's game was very aggressive and risky, particularly focused on attacking the net. This allowed her to perfect her greatest strength, her serve-and-volley game. She also possessed exceptional ball control and was very athletic. Semyon Beltis-Geiman, the famous Soviet tennis theorist and university lecturer, supported her. He saw in her the personification of the ideal tennis player. At just 14 years old, Chmyryova made her debut on the 1973 Virginia Slims Circuit, the forerunner of the WTA Tour, the world's premier women's tennis tournament series. After being eliminated in the first round of both the mixed doubles and singles events at the French Open, she was not allowed to reach the first round of the singles competition at the Wimbledon Championships, which took place just under a month later, despite successfully qualifying, because the organizers considered her too young. After not competing in a Grand Slam tournament in 1974 as a result, her star truly began to rise in 1975: in her first and only singles appearance at the Australian Open, she was defeated by Martina Navrátilová in the semifinals. In 1975, Chmyreva was the strongest tennis player in the world among girls: she also won the junior tournaments at Wimbledon and the US Open that year. She even repeated her Wimbledon triumph in 1976, reaching the round of 16 in the senior singles competition and the quarterfinals at the US Open. At that time, her coach was Sergei Gusev. She also reached the quarterfinals in doubles at the 1976 US Open. In April of the same year, she had already taken part in the Virginia Slims Championships (equivalent to today's WTA Tour Championships) of the 16 best-ranked female tennis players of the season in Los Angeles. Unlike many other young players, Chmyryova did not adopt the style of the famous Chris Evert. Instead, she beat the baseline specialist twice during the 1977 World Team Tennis season. However, this was to be her last active stay in the United States: In the run-up to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, the national federation banned Soviet players from participating in tournaments that also included South African players. There were fears that otherwise the tournament would be boycotted by black African nations due to the apartheid conflict. Chmyryova's last tournament in this series was in Washington, D.C. In the first round of the doubles, she and her partner Olga Morozova were drawn against South African opponents. The excuse given for Chmyryova's non-appearance was stomach pain, which she allegedly suffered. In the singles match, she was due to play against a South African in the second round. She did not appear in this match either and, visibly nervous, had to explain herself and lie at the subsequent press conference. At the time, the 18-year-old was ranked 13th in the world. A year later, she won the Soviet singles championship. In recognition of her playing achievements, she was also named to the Soviet Federation Cup team. With this team, she reached the semifinals in both 1978 and 1979. In total, Chmyreva played seven games in singles (five wins and two losses) and five games in doubles (four wins and one loss) in these competitions. Natalia Chmyreva was the winner of the USSR Tennis Championships in 1978 (in women's singles and doubles) and 1982 (in mixed doubles), and was also a finalist of the USSR Championships four times - in women's doubles (1975, 1981) and mixed doubles (1975, 1981). In addition, Chmyreva won the All-Union Winter Tennis Competitions three times in singles (1978, 1981, 1982) and once in mixed doubles (1978). As part of the Moscow team, she became the champion of the Spartakiads of the Peoples of the USSR in 1975 and 1979 . Chmyreva also won the 1979 Universiade tennis tournament in singles. Even in her youth, Chmyryova was known for her unconventional behavior and nonconformity. Due to her upbringing and the awareness of her talent, she carried herself with extraordinary self-confidence and never held back in expressing her own opinions. This individual freedom was also reflected in her outfits: she often wore strikingly contrasting color combinations, was the first Russian tennis player on the professional tour to play without a bra, and wore a hairband like American players – inspired by the headdress of Native American women. With these partly calculated breaking of taboos, she occasionally shocked the conservative Moscow sports community. Her behavior did not fit into the political sports system of the Soviet Union – in contrast to, for example, the conformist Olga Morozova. In 1979, she still had the opportunity to travel to the Summer Universiade in Mexico City. There she secured the gold medal in singles against her compatriot Yevgenia Biryukova and won bronze alongside her in the women's doubles. Due to alleged violations of team rules there – she had evaded the strict supervision of Soviet officials and refused to reveal any honesty about her whereabouts and when – she was subsequently suspended from competitive play for a year and also excluded from the Soviet Federation Cup team. This measure was all the more unfortunate for Chmyryova from a sporting perspective, as she was in excellent shape and had won every domestic winter tournament in 1980. Although her suspension ended shortly after the Olympic Games, Olga Morozova took over as head coach of the Russian women's tennis team and, as one of her first measures, eliminated Natalya. She was to become a training partner for other young players. Since at that time there was no other way for Soviet players to participate in professional tournaments abroad than as a member of the national team, Chmyryova lost all sporting prospects. She ended her career at the age of 25. In 1974–1982, Chmyreva was included in the list of the strongest tennis players of the USSR nine times, her best place being second (in 1976 and 1978). In 1991, she was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. In 1985-1988, Natalia Chmyreva worked as a coach at the Dynamo Sports Society , and in 1990-1992, she worked as a coach at the Moscow Sports School No. 24. Chmyryova's doubles partners throughout her career have included Portuguese Deborah Fiuza, Russians Marina Kroshina and Yevgenia Biryukova, and British Sue Barker. In mixed doubles, she has partnered with Russians Vadim Borisov, Alexander Bogomolov, and Teimuras Kakulia, among others. |
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