Sania loses, but crowned queen of India

New Delhi, March 4: Although Indian tennis came to a dead stop at the Dubai Open when Sania Mirza lost in the quarters of the Dubai Open to Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, the teenage sensation set the country's imagination ablaze with her performances there.However, earlier, riding on a whirlwind of expectations, Sania justified her wild card entry into the Dubai Open when she blitzed the current US champion Svetlana Kuznetsova with a power game that was both captivating and energising and thereby took India into an area that was untrod heretofore.

It filled the Indian vacuum in mega sports that had just one thing to captivate it - cricket.

However, the thirst for variety existed, but sadly (till Sania came along) it remained unquenched for so long after hockey was pronounced dead due to an internal political haemorhaege and soccer never even got off the life-support system. A major factor that has put tennis under the spotlight even further is the fact that a girl, a pretty teenager at that, has achieved so much in so little time. A waif that overnight, turned into a giant-killer.

The story is not that Sania lost, the crux of the Sania Dubai experience is that she has fired-up countless imaginations back home giving a filip to the aspirations of youngsters across all sports, especially tennis.

Sania has shown that an Indian, educated and trained at home, has the weaponry, in terms of intelligence, power and the game, to overcome the best in the world.

This Australian Open (where Sania went down to top ranked Serena Williams) and the Dubai Open are the first few steps to eventual greatness.

The next in line is the most coveted trophy in tennis, Wimbledon. Sania has enough time to overcome her niggling injuries to make a good showing there.

Sania, post-Dubai may be down but certainly not out, but she has walked into the hearts and minds of her countrymen and tennis-lovers across the globe with her giant-killer performance.

In gratitude the nation has embraced the youngster and a billion voices are rooting for her.