Sania Back in India

Teen tennis sensation Sania Mirza says 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 said before departing for her home.

Brand Sania

After her exploits at the US Open, Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza will be richer by $70,000, after having paid a whopping tax of $37,000 in the United States. But that is not the end of the riches-to-riches story of Sania. Back home, she will also find the value of 'Brand Sania' skyrocketing with many more companies lining up outside her well-protected bungalow wanting her to sign on and add a few more crores to her kitty.
Elbowing out the cricketers

After nudging out cricket from the front pages, Sania Mirza is elbowing India's top cricketers out of the endorsement sweepstakes. The tennis sensation has become India's joint secondhighest grosser among sports stars, in the same bracket as Rahul Dravid and second only to Sachin Tendulkar. She may have lost to Maria Sharapova at the US Open, but Brand Sania is rocking India's advertising world.
New beginning

Sania, who returned to Mumbai from New York, said whatever she achieved from this point onwards till the end of the year 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 skyrockets

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.
Next stop Kolkata

"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.