November

Point
Out
creature the very next, when she steps
off the court. Any tennis pro will tell you
that humility and politeness are all very
good, but best left behind in the locker
room. “Confidence is very important
in tennis, more so in mixed doubles.
One has to be able to hold one’s ground.
Sania’s unafraid and doesn’t back off.
That attitude is great,” says Romanian
HoriaTecau, who partnered Mirza at the
Australian Open final earlier this year.
Mirza’s steely nerves come in to play at
crucial moments in the match , he adds.
Born in Mumbai, Mirza grew up in
Hyderabad, where she took up tennis
when she was six years old. She was
spOrTS
not content being just a many-time
national champion at the Delhi Lawn
Tennis Association and aimed higher
to find a place on the international
stage. “Ten years before I started, there
was NirupamaVaidyanathan. Then I
started playing well, and suddenly went
from Number 200 to 31 in the world,
and no one expected that. After that,
for so many years, I have moved from
one Slam to the next in doubles, I don’t
think of it as something unique. But it
gets lonely since there’s no other Indian
girl out there,” she says. It’s her way
of seeing what should be apparent to
Indian followers of the game — it’s been
SaniaMirza and no one after her.
Why then has controversy hijacked
all discussion about her talent? There
were attacks on her patriotism when a
photograph showed her sitting with her
feet up on a table, with a national flag in
the foreground. Most recently, she was
declared unfit to be Telangana’s brand
ambassador because she is married to
Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.
“I came at a time when there was no
girl in any sport and the last icon was
PT Usha. People were shocked and
surprised to see me, but I guess it was
boring to speak about just the forehand
and my serve. Some of the controversies
were so pointless. At 18, you are
supposed to know how to party or bunk
college, not how to be politically correct.
But I’m calmer now while handling such
things,” she says.
While Mirza is yet to claim a women’s
doubles Slam, the year-ending WTA
finals is encouraging, given how she is
playing the crucial points. That someone
could comment on her worthiness to
be Telengana’s brand ambassador and
reduce her to tears deserved a whiplash
retort and Mirza delivered that with the
US Open win. But it was a delectable
volley she chose: a wry declaration
immediately after she lifted the trophy.
It shouldn’t have needed reiterating,
not after she’s picked six gold medals,
four silvers and four bronze for the
country across Afro-Asian, Asian and
Commonwealth Games. Not after the
tiny Indian flag continues to appear
next to her name whenever she wins a
Grand Slam final (thrice) or plays in one
(thrice).
54
November 2014