Sania show begins in-camera

KOLKATA: Move aside Sourav Ganguly, Sania Mirza is here. Not that she is tipped to win the Wimbledon or the US Open next year, but her mannerisms will put to shade the Men in Blue.

Security men surround her 24x7 and if you dare to venture close by, be prepared to be shoved away. If Sourav has been threatened by extremists, Muslim clerics have issued a fatwa against her for wearing 'un-Islamic' dresses.

There's more: The young lady's family wants the media stay away from her practice sessions.

Photographers, keep away please. The family means business as Sania, who arrived in Kolkata late on Friday for the Sunfeast Open, practised incamera' on Saturday morning.

When you ask her about all this, she is quite curt. "Let's talk only about tennis." Tennis is what she plans to focus on, in the coming week. is always great to play at home and I am looking forward to good week. I am going to play my game and hope for the best." She starts off against a qualifier on Tuesday at 7 pm.

The first-round clash can happen against an Indian as quite a few of them are in the fray. "I haven't played against an Indian for a long time and really do not know what to expect."

She definitely would not like to lose early, as she did in Bali. "Well, I cannot win everything. There will be the losses, whether in the first round of a Tour event or the fourth round of the US Open,"she shrugged.

She has learnt to take defeats in her stride and hopes fans learn to accept them.

Sania's recent successes have taken her from world number 142 to 34 this year and she cited that while scoffing at suggestions that she was inconsistent.