plot synopsis

Played out under the bright lights of the U.S. Open Semifinals, The Last Match pits rising Russian star Sergei Sergeyev against American great Tim Porter in an epic showdown that follows two tennis titans through pivotal moments in their lives both on-and-off the court. This gripping, fast-paced story captures the intense world of competitive sports, and human rivalry, and what it means to want something — and the lengths we will go to in order to feel relevant, important, and young.

select productions

— City Theatre, Pittsburgh, 2016 (Directed by Tracy Brigden)
— The Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, 2016 (Directed by GT Upchurch)
— The Roundabout Theatre Company, 2017 (Directed by GT Upchurch)
— Writers Theatre, Chicago, streaming April-May, 2021 (Directed by Keira Fromm)
— Lantern Theater Company, Philadelphia, Nov-Dec 2019 (Directed by M. Craig Getting)
— 1st Stage, Tysons, VA, June-July 2023 (Directed by Alex Levy)

more press

“A highly engaging play that infuses its staple themes–ambition and the coming of middle age–with a deeply satisfying freshness of approach… Ms. Ziegler has woven [the characters’] wide-ranging memories together with the fluidity of a virtuoso—I don’t know the last time I saw so complex a new play that was so seamlessly wrought…A distinguished piece of theatrical work … As memorable a show as any of the ones I’ve seen [at Writers Theatre] in person.” — The Wall Street Journal (Terry Teachout)

“Ms. Ziegler, a fertile writer of admirably varied style and subject…is also fast becoming a master of swelling choral dialogue, in which urgent but lyrical phrases are intoned in a counterpoint that seems to echo down the halls of history.” — The New York Times (Ben Brantley)

“A play with plenty of underspin, Anna Ziegler’s gripping and contemplative drama unfolds during a close-fought US Open semifinals match….Under Gaye Taylor Upchurch’s direction, the match is a nail-biter, even as Ziegler pauses to eavesdrop on the men’s thoughts, memories and interactions with the women in the stands.” — The New Yorker

“A deft, luminous play. The Last Match swells with intensity and poetic undertones as it courses through 90 minutes with increasing velocity, asking big questions about the human condition…Zeroing in on who will win at Center Court, we are simultaneously drawn toward the accelerating questioning of the meaning of human existence. Ziegler’s lyrically philosophical script lobs tough questions: Can you escape your own death? Can you hold on to the belief that you deserve to win? How can you ever get to the bottom of wanting?”… It turns out that the dynamic clash of opposites, mirrored in the play’s thematic polarities of youth versus age and life versus death — so superbly reenacted by “the game” — reveals itself to be the catalyst of élan vital, or vital force, which drives these players toward a kind of victory. It is the velocity of such passion that propels us toward all accomplishment, Ziegler suggests: the testing of physical limits, the incarnation of children, and to the game of life itself.” — Stage and Cinema

“An extraordinary four-hander… The audience needn’t be a fan of tennis, nor indeed, of any particular sport, to feel the dynamic power of Ms. Ziegler’s play…A play about challenging oneself, accepting failure gracefully, and realizing one’s limitations, especially as we inevitably age…This is one production that Chicago audiences won’t want to miss.” — Chicago Theatre Review

“The tennis is only suggested on stage at Writers Theatre in this streaming play. But tennis fans won’t look away for a second as an aging champ battles a younger opponent, and time… [This is a] very sophisticated, high-energy, entertaining new show…A piece of streaming theater that won’t have you checking your email in another tab… A sensual, smart show…that captures the shifting dynamic of a long five-set game.” — The Chicago Tribune (Chris Jones)

“A tennis match with no net, no balls, and no rackets proves gripping in Anna Ziegler’s new play… Ziegler manages to dramatize a very realistic and quite exciting tennis match between perfectly matched players…Like those invisible balls, the dialogue whizzes by at warp speed.” (Critic’s Pick) — Variety

“This inexplicable tenderness reaffirms Ziegler’s status as one of the most vibrant playwrights in America. Her latest ‘The Last Match’ is no exception.”  — Talkin’ Broadway

“A very exciting play… One of Anna Ziegler’s skills as a playwright is to create tension early and keep it going… [She] is such an adroit dramatist…The characters are all beautifully drawn… A penetrating inside look. Two thumbs way up.” — Dueling Critics, Chicago (90.9FM)

“Anna Ziegler is one of the theater’s most productive and original young playwrights….Her The Last Match is a vivid and interestingly structured take on the tennis metaphor. Its terrific recreation of the sound and look of a real tennis match and smoothly interspersed monologues and duologues make us privy to an exciting contest between two talented and dedicated pros as well as to their off-the-courts lives.” — Curtain Up

“The Last Match is a wonderful piece…full of beauty and pain, confusion and conflict. And tennis. Lots of tennis. But you don’t have to be familiar with the sport to identify with the pain of loss, the fear of failure, and the true longings of the heart.” — DC Theater Arts

“I know next to nothing about tennis…. And yet, there I found myself in the final, goose-bump inducing moments of Roundabout Theatre Company’s “The Last Match” completely transfixed and exhilarated, reminded of what I love about the visceral immediacy of live theatre as the lights faded on the final, furious bout of a tennis match…. Ms. Ziegler smartly explores the human reality of how coiled in any great performative moment is everything that has led up to it, the totality of one’s existence…The match is these men’s lives.  It’s not just a game…Ms. Ziegler captures this spirit while also honing in on the nature of ambivalence, how when something overcomes your life because you love it so much, it also becomes much easier to hate…That’s a bold insight from the playwright, deeply relatable, and difficult to observe for fear of where introspection might lead…. the simplicity of this play, and the pace with which it moves, masks a much more profound discourse about ambition, pressure, success, failure, and purpose—subjects we can all relate to.” — Stage Left

“[The Last Match] is a win-win…Clever and effective…with all the insight of the best Sports Illustrated articles.” — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette