Tag: Indian Tennis Sensation

Sania In Support Of Indian Wrestlers

Trailblazer Sania Bids Adieu To A Glorious 20-Year Career

By LokMarg

A glorious 20-year-long career came to an end on Tuesday as Sania Mirza played her last match as a professional tennis player at the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships. The Indian tennis star has played a key role in giving a boost to tennis, specially women tennis, in the country.

There was no fairytale ending on offer for Mirza as she suffered a first-round loss at the Dubai Tennis Championships 2023, her farewell tournament. Mirza had earlier announced that she will retire after the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai.

The Indian tennis player and her American women’s doubles partner Madison Keys lost their first-round encounter 4-6, 0-6 to Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova at the Dubai Tennis Stadium.

The Indian tennis player’s pursuit of excellence led her to numerous accomplishments in her career including six Grand Slam titles and top spot in the WTA doubles rankings. She became the first Indian woman to enter the top 30 in the WTA singles rankings.

The first big title triumph came in 2009, as she partnered Mahesh Bhupathi to clinch the Australian Open mixed doubles title.

The duo of Mirza and Bhupathi paired up to do India proud yet again three years later, this time on the hallowed clay of Roland Garros. Her third mixed doubles title at the Slams was at the 2014 US Open, partnering Brazilian player Bruno Soares.

The top-seeded duo lived up to their billing and beat USA’s Abigail Spears and Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez in a final which went into a tiebreaker. In 2015, Sania Mirza partnered with Swiss legend Martina Hingis, with whom she won three back-to-back Grand Slam doubles titles.

Fans dubbed the duo “Santina” after their first Grand Slam victory at Wimbledon in 2015. The pair advanced to the final without dropping a set against the Russian duo of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina – Sania Mirza’s former partner. The duo continued in the same vein and seemed almost unstoppable over the course of the next few months as they picked up the US Open 2015 title before starting off 2016 with the Australian Open triumph – marking a hat-trick of Grand Slams.

Despite being a very capable singles player for the first half of her career, recurring wrist injuries forced Sania Mirza to focus solely on doubles in 2013. She won the Hyderabad Open in 2005, becoming the first Indian tennis player to win a WTA singles title.

In mid-2007, she climbed to a career-best 27th in the WTA Singles Rankings, which remains the best tennis ranking held by an Indian in singles to this day.

In doubles, Sania Mirza rose to No. 1 in the WTA Doubles Rankings in April 2015, becoming the first Indian woman to do so. Only Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have reached the top of the ATP doubles rankings. The Indian ace held the number one spot for nearly 21 months before losing it in January 2017.

Representing and winning a medal for the country is a dream every Olympic athlete fosters and Mirza is no different. The Indian tennis star is a four-time Olympian. Mirza competed in her first Olympics in Beijing in 2008. Due to a wrist injury, she had to retire in the second set of her first round singles match against Czech opponent Iveta Benesova. She and her partner Sunitha Rao were eliminated in the second round of the doubles event.

Mirza and her doubles partner Rushmi Chakravarthi were eliminated in the first round of the 2012 London Olympics after losing to Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chia-jung and Hsieh Su-wei. She fared better in the mixed doubles, reaching the quarterfinals with Leander Paes before losing to eventual gold medalists Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi.

In her third Olympic appearance, Sania Mirza partnered Rohan Bopanna in mixed doubles and advanced to the semi-finals. The Czech pairing of Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek defeated the duo in the bronze medal match, denying them a podium finish.

In women’s doubles event, Sania Mirza and her partner Prarthana Thombare exited the tournament in the first round after a closely-fought loss to China’s Zhang Shuai and Peng Shuai. At the Tokyo Olympics, Sania Mirza and her doubles partner Ankita Raina didn’t make it beyond the opening round.

Mirza has an incredible eight Asian Games medals, winning at least one in each of the editions she has competed in.

Perhaps her first major achievement representing India at a major global event was at the 2002 Asian Games. The then-15-year-old won bronze in the mixed doubles event with Leander Paes.

Her fortunes improved in the following edition when she won gold in mixed doubles and silver in women’s doubles and the team event at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.

In Guangzhou, she clinched bronze in women’s singles and added silver from the mixed doubles event and at the Incheon Asian Games in 2014, she won gold in mixed doubles again and capped it off with a silver in the women’s doubles.

Due to her accomplishments in tennis, Sania Mirza has been conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2004, Padma Shri in 2006, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (now called the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award) in 2015 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016. (ANI)

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Sania Mirza

‘Covid-19 Impact On World Is Bigger Than Personal Setback’

By S Kannan

Sania Mirza, the diva of Indian tennis, leads a hectic life, on and off court. At 33, she has seen the highs in her professional career, having won six Grand Slam titles, and still hopeful of continuing her journey. After the birth of her son Izhaan in 2018, her responsibilities increased. That is why she chose not to play at the US Open recently, as the roles of being a player and mom would have been tough to handle during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Currently in Dubai with her husband, Pakistan cricket star Shoaib Malik, and son, Mirza spoke to S Kannan in a freewheeling chat.

Q. How has life been for you since lockdown began in March?
Sania: Initially, I enjoyed staying at home and spending time with the family. But soon it felt weird that my life had come to a virtual standstill. I started working out in the gym at home to stay fit and every evening the family would play a bit of table tennis or some other game to keep ourselves occupied.

Q. Your thoughts on how Covid-19 has affected your tennis this year?
Sania: Of course, tennis has taken a complete back-seat with the world facing serious threats due to the pandemic. I felt that during the Fed Cup matches in Dubai in March, I was back to my peak and was looking forward to a strong resurgence on the international circuit and at the (Tokyo) Olympics that were scheduled for later. But obviously with the Covid 19, I will need to start preparing for the circuit all over again.

Of course, losing almost a year at this stage of my career is unfortunate. But, like I said, personal problems seem small compared to the major calamity that our world has been subjected to due to the Corona virus.

Q. When do you see some amount of normalcy being restored in India for athletes and you personally?
Sania: That is hard to predict for anyone. Attempts are being made to bring about some kind of normalcy by trying to host international tournaments but it is still going to be a while before desired results are seen.

Q: You decided to miss the US Open, how does it feel?
Sania: It is unfortunate that not just me but several top players of the world have had to miss the Grand Slam due to genuine issues. I personally could not take a chance of travelling to US with Izhaan under the existing conditions. The risks were too high and I’m glad I made the right decision.

Q. As a mom, your thoughts on tennis and the more important roles in your life?
Sania: Tennis has always been a very important part of my life but I’ve been very clear that ‘tennis alone is not life’. Now as a mother, Izhaan and his well-being is definitely my most important priority. That does not mean I cannot continue with my career in tennis for some more time. 

Q: We heard about your involvement with some charity work and distribution of dry rations during lockdown. Tell us about it and also how did you raised funds for it?
Sania: I joined hands with an NGO and helped raise funds for the daily wage earners, who were most badly hit during the lockdown. The funds were used to provide ration for thousands of these daily wage earners and their families.

Q. Your take on the postponed Tokyo Olympics, to be now held in 2021?Sania: It is not the ideal situation but there is not much we can do about it. So, we have to simply accept what comes our way.