Sania hopes to be a ‘pathbreaking Indian woman’

Hyderabad, September 8: Tennis sensation Sania Mirza today expressed confidence that she would soon be the number one not only in tennis but also in many other walks of life to be a pathbreaking Indian woman."Inshallah (god willing), I will be world number one some day and will continue to be first Indian woman to do a lot more things," Sania said.

The 18-year-old Hyderabadi became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam at the US Open last week before losing to Maria Sharapova.

In the weeks leading up to the event, she also became the first Indian, man or woman, to break into the top-50 in rankings since Ramesh Krishnan in 1980s. No other female player from the subcontinent has achieved the feat so far. On her future plans, world 42nd ranked Sania said she would take part in a WTA tour event in Bali next week and return to India to launch her campaign in the USD 170,000 tournament in Kolkata the following week.

Thanking her sponsor GVK Reddy, who spotted her at the age of 12 and has been encouraging her ever since, Sania said, "right now I cannot fix a target for myself. I thought of breaking into the top 50 by this year-end and I made it. Give me some time and let me think over before setting targets."

On her new coach John Farrington, she said that the two really did not work together much as she was suffering from an injury and there was no time to work on technique.