Maryna Zanevska is officially a Belgian tennis player since Monday morning. She is, more precisely, now the fifth best Belgian tennis player behind Yanina Wickmayer, Kirsten Flipkens, Alison Van Uytvanck and Elise Mertens.
In 2008, the former Ukrainian player decided to make a trip to Belgium to train at the Justine Henin Academy. She has never left the country since then. She confessed to a Belgian newspaper, "I've always felt good in Belgium, on the sport level but also personally." It is also while she was training at the Justine Henin Academy that she reached her best junior ranking of number 12 in the world. Speaking about her junior career, it should be reminded that she won two Grand Slams in doubles at the French Open in 2009 (with Valeria Solovyeva) and at the US Open in 2011 (with Iryna Khromacheva).
Zanevska will also be eligible to play in the Belgian Fed Cup team as she never played for Ukraine. She also stated that she would be thrilled to be part of the national team if she had the chance to be selected by Dominique Monami, the Belgian Fed Cup captain. The Belgian team will go to Romania next February to play their first round in the World Group II.
Trained by Philippe Dehaes, the native Ukrainian has just won her first ever $50,000 title last week in Saint-Malo by beating Camilla Rosatello in the final. Having suffered injuries in the past few months, her main objective is now to get back to her best ranking of number 107 in the world and to enter the top 100 as soon as possible. The 23-year-old is currently playing a $25,000 ITF tournament in Equeurdreville, where she will face Quirine Lemoine for a spot in the semifinals of the event.