Mahesh wants less errors - Take it to Maria, is Leander’s advice to Sania

AMITAVA DAS GUPTA

Calcutta: Even as we bask in Sania Mirza’s glory and pray for the mother of all upsets on Sunday, an interesting piece of statistic has emerged from her three matches at the US Open so far. Sania has bludgeoned an amazing number of winners, but the unforced errors count has almost matched that. In Friday’s third-round duel with Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli, for instance, Sania belted 45 winners while making 49 mistakes! While the first part is most encouraging, the second is worrying, to say the least. No wonder the Sania camp is working overtime to rectify that anomaly. “That’s far too high a number for unforced errors,” Mahesh Bhupathi told The Telegraph from New York. “In the second round, she made 56 mistakes. On Friday it was nine less, but she has to bring the unforced errors down to below 20.” Bhupathi lauded Sania for continuing to win despite not playing her best tennis, but sounded a note of warning as well. “(Maria) Sharapova will be a different kettle of fish altogether. She can’t afford to make so many mistakes against the Russian,” said the Indian doubles ace, looking ahead to the much talked-about fourth-round showdown. Having said that, Bhupathi was quick to clarify no result can be discounted when Sania is playing these days. “She has already shown us she can beat top-10 players, so I don’t think it would be wise to write Sania off.” His advice to Sania would be to just enjoy the occasion of locking horns with the No. 1 seed of a Grand Slam tournament. “I’ll tell her to just relax and play your game, not get over-excited, because then the errors will creep in,” Bhupathi remarked. Leander Paes, his one-time partner, had similar advice for the girl who has left the doubles aces miles behind on the popularity chart in the last seven-eight months. “Sania’s advantage is, she’ll be going into the match as the underdog. It’ll be a great opportunity for her to make an even bigger impression on the big stage. She should go out there and swing from the hips… take the game to Sharapova,” Paes said when contacted on his cell. On the face of it, Sania versus Maria looks a mismatch. “Sharapova is a professional athlete while Sania is still a rookie on the circuit,” the Indian Davis Cup captain said. “But Sania is a cocky little kid who actually believes she can beat anybody… As long as that belief is real, she can win some big matches.” Before signing off, Paes had a word of advice for Sania fans. “Leave her alone, let her play the game… Let her climb the ladder and reach the top-10, top-15, that’s when the real test will come.”