Sania Mirza by Gunjan Jain

Author:Gunjan Jain [Jain, Gunjan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789353054205
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2018-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

TURNING PROFESSIONAL

Early in Sania’s career, advertising and theatre guru Alyque Padamsee had predicted the sweep of Sania mania. In 2005, it had already begun. When Sania entered the finals of the AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, the stadium in her home town was packed to capacity and the crowd was delirious. She won the match and the tournament, securing her first WTA title. Such adulation is usually reserved for cricketers in India but as a young tennis player, Sania changed that. She was named 2005 WTA Newcomer of the Year and featured on the cover of Time as one of the ‘50 Heroes of Asia.’ In 2005 Sania soared from number 300 to thirty-one and then twenty-seven in 2007. She made it to the semi-finals of the Hobart WTA tournaments, the second round of the Australian Open, finished eighth in the US Open Series and won four doubles titles. Her best singles result ever in a Grand Slam was reaching the pre-quarter final in 2005 in the US Open where she lost to the ultimate winner Maria Sharapova.

What gives Sania an edge over others? Her most important strength, Imran tells me, lies in her mind. She does not work herself up thinking about a match, and doesn’t get intimidated by the opponent’s ranking or reputation. Sania tells me, ‘If I am at an exhibition or gallery opening I won’t be talking to myself. When I am on the tennis court, I don’t hold back. There are so many emotions involved in a two-hour tennis match. There’s frustration, happiness, sadness, you miss a ball and you are annoyed; you win a point and you cheer yourself up. The tennis court is where I am completely myself. I don’t care how I look or behave.’

Sania has some incredible physical advantages – her inimitable forehand, the force with which she hits the ball and her energy on court have often been praised. She is also double-jointed, which means she is more flexible. Her kryptonite, however, are injuries – she is very prone to them and had three surgeries by the time she was twenty-two.

A bad year hit her in 2008 – Sania was plagued by a slew of injuries and had to withdraw from several matches including the French Open and the US Open, but she participated in the Beijing Olympics. When she injured her wrist, Sania thought her career was over – ‘I couldn’t comb my hair or pick up a fork. I was in serious depression, thinking my career is over. I tried to do anything but sit in my room all day and cry. It’s the worst feeling in the world when you have to sacrifice the things you love.’ Her anguish was understandable, considering she had defeated three top players – Martina Hingis, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova – in 2006. ‘Every time I have been hurt, I have faced a crisis. As tennis players or as athletes you have to learn to trust your body again. For the last seven to eight years I don’t remember waking up in the morning without pain.

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