Olga Vasilyevna Morozova (Russian: Ольга Васильевна Морозова, IPA:[ˈolʲɡəmɐˈrozəvə]ⓘ; born 22 February 1949) is a retired tennis player who competed for the Soviet Union. She was the runner-up in singles at the 1974 French Open and 1974 Wimbledon Championships and the first Soviet player to win a Grand Slam event. Her ground-breaking playing career combined with her distinguished coaching career has meant Morozova is often labelled the "Godmother of Russian tennis".
Career
Born in Moscow to parents from Ryazan, Morozova started playing tennis at the age of 10 and has never considered herself a Muscovite. She never attended kindergarten, unlike most Soviet children, because she truly disliked it after the first two days. Her grandmother was able to take care of her instead. She started playing tennis at the age of 10, with Nina Teplyakova as her first and career-long coach. By 16, Morozova had improved so quickly that she was invited to represent the USSR at Wimbledon in the girls singles.[2]
Travelling internationally for the first time and playing on grass for the first time, Morozova won the 1965 Wimbledon Junior Girls' singles title. She also credited the help of her parents for the success:
"If the parents wish for the child to build a strong relationship with the coach – and this is of the utmost importance – they need to have complete trust in the coach. The greatest assistance from grandparents and parents is in providing young athletes with healthy food. Caviar may be excellent, but porridge, fresh potatoes, vegetables, and meat are more beneficial. As much Fanta and Pepsi Cola should be avoided as possible. After a rigorous training session, the child should not be given ice cream, but a nutritious tomato, not Fanta but rosehip juice. Instead of sugary breakfasts, it would be better to provide cottage cheese with honey, and sandwiches should be made with a limited amount of butter. Sausage sandwiches are undesirable. If a sandwich is to be eaten, it should be made from boiled meat. It is important to note that, in addition to spending muscle energy, the child's entire body is put under additional stress during training, and it is essential to assist them in maintaining proper functioning. A three-course meal immediately following training is not recommended... After training, you will only need to eat one apple and then you can head home for lunch."[2]
Morozova was the first Soviet tennis player, male or female, to reach the singles final of any major tournament when she was the runner-up at the 1972 Italian Open. However, the peak of Morozova's career came during the summer of 1974 when she was the women's singles runner-up at both Wimbledon and the French Open, losing to Chris Evert on both occasions. At Wimbledon she shocked the defending champion Billie Jean King in straight sets in the quarters, and then came back from a set down against Virginia Wade to win the semi-final 6–4 in the third. She rose to No. 3 in the world going into the US Open that year – the highest ranking she achieved in her career.
Morozova became the first Soviet tennis player, male or female, to win a Grand Slam title when she teamed with Evert to win the women's doubles championship at the French Open in 1974. She was the first Soviet player to lead her team to the Federation Cup semifinals in 1978 (and again in 1979). She and Alex Metreveli were the first USSR players to reach a Grand Slam final when they teamed at Wimbledon in 1968, losing to Margaret Court and Ken Fletcher.[2] In addition to winning the French Open doubles in 1974, Morozova was the runner-up at the 1975 Australian Open (teaming with Margaret Court), the 1975 French Open (teaming with Julie Anthony) and the 1976 US Open (teaming with Virginia Wade).
Morozova's playing career was cut short in 1977 because of the USSR's policy against allowing their athletes to compete with South Africans. At this point, she retired early from the professional tour. Morozova then began a coaching career. She became head coach of the Soviet Union ladies squad through the 1980s leading the Soviets to their first appearance in a Federation Cup Final (1988, losing to Czechoslovakia). Morozova also helped pioneer the creation of the Kremlin Cup.
In 1990, the LTA hired Morozova as head of girls tennis, based at the national performance centre in Bisham Abbey, UK. Morozova became a fixture in UK tennis for much of the 1990s. In December 1996, in a Russian interview, she noted a key difference in the approach to sport between the UK and Russia: "For them [the English], participation is considered more important than winning. They fancy Coubertin a lot. For us, Russians, it is still important to win".[3]
In 1998, she was awarded the Sarah Palfrey Danzig Trophy for character, sportsmanship, manners, spirit of cooperation, and contribution to the growth of the game as well as the help she rendered to professional players and junior players.[6]
In 2000, the Russian Tennis Federation awarded Morozova the honour of Russian Tennis Player of the Twentieth Century.[7] Her daughter Katia Roubanova represented the United Kingdom where she could reach a 41st place in juniors in 1996 while suffering from a career-ending injury since 16.[8][9] In April 2012, Olga Morozova became a grandmother.[10] Her daughter's father is Viktor Roubanov (1971 champion of Moscow in singles), and he also was one of the first coaches of Anna Kournikova. He also coached Shirli-Ann Siddall during her first breakthrough — winning a match in the Wimbledon main draw — period.[11][12][13]
In her 2000 autobiography Only Tennis, Morozova described the women's game of tennis as the following:
What used to be called lawn tennis has now become a sport. In the past, tennis players who had good physical attributes immediately became stars and could make it into the top twenty with little effort and technical refinement. Nowadays, physical qualities are only one component of success. Tennis is evolving like American basketball, where athletes must first be tall, then fast, and now tall and fast with good coordination. Some people might argue that Martina Hingis is a slow player, but this is not entirely true. She has good speed, although not as fast as Williams, but also not slow. Her ball sense and anticipation are far superior to those of Williams. Kournikova may not have Hingis' anticipation, nor Williams' strength, but she is just as fast. There is nobody else who can match Anya's acceleration and powerful shots. That is, each player has their own unique role in the tennis world: Anechka is like a lightning bolt, Williams is a powerful fallow deer, and Hingis is the most perfect cat. And there's a smart fox — Jana Novotna — walking around them, waiting for her chance to grab the ball and make a great shot.[2]
^ abcd"Только теннис" [Only Tennis]. docs.yandex.ru (in Russian). Yandex Docs. Retrieved 10 August 2024. Often the [male] partner in mixed doubles plays negligently. It looks like he has already condescended to go out on the court with a woman
^Melik-Karamov, Vitaly (15 December 1996). "В Англии люди другие, но жить с ними можно" [The English People Are Different from Us but Living Alongside Them Is [Practically] Bearable]. kommersant.ru (in Russian). Kommersant. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
^"Слагаемые успеха / Быть мамой Андрея Рублева" [Components of success / Being the mother of Andrey Rublev]. fismag.ru (in Russian). FIS (Fizkultura i sport). 20 June 2018. Archived from the original on 1 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2021. What is considered a [rare] phenomenon for the whole world seems a common thing for the country. The success of women in raising male champions in Russia did not surprise or will not surprise anyone: we have no fewer female coaches than male coaches, and in the USSR this profession was occupied by women at 80%
^"Светлана Кузнецова: «Хочу официально объявить, что прекращаю сотрудничество с Ольгой Морозовой»" [Svetlana Kuznetsova: “I want to officially announce that I am ending my collaboration with Olga Morozova”]. sports.ru (in Russian). Sports.Ru. 8 April 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2024. I want to officially announce that I am ending my cooperation with Olga Morozova. I cannot describe how much I appreciate her efforts and contribution to my game. I want to congratulate her - a couple of days ago she became a grandmother. She must be experiencing incredible feelings!
^"Рубанов Виктор Борисович" [Roubanov Viktor Borisovich]. sport-strana.ru (in Russian). Sport-Strana. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
^"Viktor Roubanov: "British Tennis Players Have Too Comfortable, Well-Fed Life"". u-f.ru (in Russian). Russian Federation: Youzhny Federalny. 12 July 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2024. For example, the National Sports Centre of Great Britain, where I work. It was built in Bisham Abbey, and the club house is located in a 14th-century castle, with huge fireplaces, old paintings on the walls, and we have lunch in one of the most beautiful halls. And the courts there are right on the bank of the Thames, yachts sail past, people drink champagne on them and happily wave at you. Who would want to work in such an environment! But it turned out that this is possible. But it was incredibly difficult for me to convince at least some English parents that you need to train not once a week for an hour, but at least three times a week - for four hours. Then the results will appear
^Rerich, Elena (23 March 1998). "Larisa Preobrazhenskaya: "Little Kournikova Couldn't Be Unnoticed"". sport-express.ru (in Russian). Sport Express. Retrieved 14 August 2024. She was found by Viktor Roubanov, Olga Morozova's husband. Anya had been training in the subscription group at Druzhba with Anna Konstantinovna Sosnina since she was 5. Viktor Borisovich found her there and offered to transfer to us at Spartak. At that time, we were leading the group together
Notes:1 = switched from Kazakhstan; 2 = juniors' circuit player awarded before the existence of the Juniors nomination, 3 = wheelchair, 4 = postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia