Sania must focus on building up her physical strength

There is no news of Sania Mirza. In her absence Mahendra Singh Dhoni and other Indian cricketers have stolen the limelight. The millions who watch cricket are no longer switching off their televisions and going for their afternoon naps. Dhoni’s sixers and a young team have brought hope and recovered pride. Sania has not been playing in tournaments. One sees her only endorsing products and opening showrooms, and wonders when we will see that thumping forehand again.

Currently ranked 31, Sania is on the threshold of a trying and testing 2006. She has to defend her ranking from a bunch of talented, tough and ambitious young girls, mostly from central European countries. With strong physiques, they are like a pack of hungry wolves. At the same time, Sania has to look ahead and try to break into a higher ranking.

Looking back at her spectacular performance in 2005 will give us an insight as to what Sania has to do to defend her ranking. Rankings are done by recording points on the computer. The points rating of the tournament is done on the basis of the prize money.

Hence, the Grand Slams with the highest prize money have the highest points. To retain your ranking you have to defend your points, as the points lapse after a year. In other words if you do not as well in the same week as last year you lose points and your ranking goes down.

Last year Sania reached the third round of the Australian Open, where she lost to Serena Williams. Thereafter she won the Hyderabad WTA meet and then went on to score a brilliant victory over the Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, the then reigning US Open champion, in Dubai. Extra points are given for victories over players in the top ten. Later in the year, in AugustSeptember, Sania has to defend points for a final appearance in the Forest Hills Classic tournament and her last 16 encounter at the US Open against Sharapova.

It has been an incredible year for Sania with a bumper harvest of points. Her meteoric ascent in the rankings from over 300 to the thirties is unparalled in women’s — or men’s — tennis in 2005. US spectators loved her “smashmouth ground shots and goforbroke style” as USA Today described her game.

Sania is attractive and feminine and not hard, stodgy and muscular like most of the topranked women players. Her press interviews reveal a maturity beyond her years. She upstaged even the attractive No.1 seed Maria Sharapova to become the most popular women player at the US Open. The combination of Indian mystique with the diamond nose ring, the mini skirt and the rebellious irreverent slogans on her Tshirts struck a cord in American hearts.

With the fatwas, her international image mushroomed much beyond her tennis. Sania brushed aside the fatwa questions with great maturity and aplomb. Like I wrote after Wimbledon, “There is something special about Sania”

The grapevine has thrown up two important unconfirmed reports about her plans. The first is that Sania is going to Etcheberry in Florida for physical training and the second, a stint of 23 weeks with Tony Roche in December before the Australian Open. Yet another news item says that Lotto is designing a special shoe for her flattish feet. All these seem to be steps in the right direction.

Of paramount importance is building up her physical strength. Her explosive ground shots have surged beyond her fitness levels. The long rallies prevalent in modern tennis require much endurance and strength. To hit high calibre shots, one has to first be there, then get into position while retaining perfect balance.

Physical strength, which does not necessarily require bulging biceps, has to be built gradually and requires at least 23 years of faithful regular daily workouts under expert guidance. Etcheberry is one of the world’s best — he looked after Pete Sampras and currently trains many of the world’s great sporting icons.

Irrespective of cost, Sania should avail of his services. Leander Paes benefited greatly from his association with Etcheberry. Sixteen tough sets of men’s and mixed doubles crammed into two actionpacked days saw him emerge with the men’s doubles and mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon 1999.

Without a high fitness level which he built over four years with Etcheberry’s guidance, Paes may not have won even one title. One does not know when life will throw up an opportunity. But when it does, you must grab it with both hands. If you are not 100% fit, you will miss the bus.

A drop in the current ranking would be a great disadvantage to Sania. There are 32 players seeded at the Australian Open. If she is able to be amongst the 32 seeds, then she will not have to play 31 of the higherranked best players till the third round. If she is not able to get a seeding, then she could be drawn to play a first or second round match against stronger and higher ranked players.

To sum up, Sania needs to improve on last year’s performance to climb to a higher ranking. To achieve this she needs to improve her endurance and physical strength, stay injury free and have access to a top class coach who has had experience of coaching or playing in the top ten of the world.

For Sania, 2005 has been a glorious year. One hopes that in 2006 she will be able to script yet another great chapter in the history of Indian tennis and move into the top ten of the women’s world.