Sania needs numbers to ace rivals

HYDERABAD, Sep 16: Her aim was to break into the top 50 by the year-end, but Sania Mirza is already no. 34. From the 300s around this time last year, she rose almost 250 spots in world rankings, much the same way as Anna Kournikova had done in 1996.

From Hyderabad to Dubai, Melbourne to London and Paris to New York, Sania Mirza has mustered 700 points, catapulting herself from being an unknown into the realm of being hailed as path-breaker in Indian tennis.

Her's was a meteoric rise, with every three points gained since September 2004, pushing her up by one rank. However, her climb from now on will not be as meteoric because the point difference between one slot and the one above gets steeper from now on. For instance, another dose of 700 points now will see Sania move up only by about 20 places, into the top 15, while yet another such performance will not guarantee her an entry into the top 10.

For Sania to climb into the top 30, she needs at an average of 20 points per rank; to get into the top 20 she needs 25 per rank and into the top 10 about 60 per rank. This means Sania's task gets tougher each time she steps on court. Unlike in the past one year, an odd WTA title, an occasional upset win against a top-tenner, a couple of wins in Grand Slam tournaments and an encounter or two with the world's best will no longer work the magic. All these have to come at a regular frequency and in greater numbers.

It does not mean that the only way up for Sania Mirza now is to win events by the dozen and beat every top ten player she meets. If it were to be so, Kournikova could never have reached a career-high fourth rank, because the Russian could never manage to win even one WTA singles crown in her career.