I enjoy playing under pressure: Sania

Teen tennis sensation Sania Mirza today said she enjoyed carrying the weight of expectations of a billion people and playing under pressure every time she stepped on the court.

"A billion people expect me to win every time I step on the court. That's the way it is and I enjoy playing under this pressure," the 18-year-old Hyderabadi told reporters here before departing for her home town this evening.

Sania, who returned to Mumbai from New York in the early hours this morning, said whatever she achieved from this point onwards till the end of the year vis-a-vis her WTA ranking would be a bonus.

"At the beginning of the year I set a top-50 ranking target. I would probably end up around 35 or 36 now. Whatever comes now would be a bonus and I don't want to aim for anything more," she said.

Sania entered the US Open ranked 42nd and her ratings would further improve following her pre-quarterfinal performance in US Open where she lost to top seed Maria Sharapova of Russia.

Sania, who made everyone sit up and take notice of her fine run last week, said there were a lot of areas in her game that needed improvement including her fitness level.

"Your tennis is never perfect. You need to keep working on it all the time. Fitness is one of those things I need to work on among a lot of other things," Sania said. The Wimbledon Junior doubles champion said she looked forward to doing well in the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, a Level 3 event beginning on Sep 19, but added that people should not expect her to win this event just because she had clinched the title in a Level 4 Hyderabad Open, her first WTA title, in February.

"It's going to be a very tough tournament. Just because I won at Hyderabad doesn't mean I would win this too. Let's hope I would do well." Sania expressed her pleasure at partnering world number one doubles player Virginia Ruana Pascual of Spain, a multiple time women's doubles champion in Grand Slam events, in Kolkata.

"It's great and it's an honour for me to play with the world number one player in doubles. I hope we will make a good team." Sania, returning home after a quite some time, said she was looking forward to it.

"I am looking forward to going home after two months," she said adding that her next tournament would be the one in Bali, Indonesia.