Sun shining, Sania ready to feast

Dhiman Sarkar

Kolkata, September 19, 2005

Let's put it this way: the last time an indoor tennis tournament came to town, Sania Mirza wasn't even born. Vijay Amritraj was still active on the Tour and Ivan Lendl's assiduous climb up the rankings had just begun. The last of those Grands Prix at the Netaji Indoor Stadium was in 1978.

We have moved on since. The carpet of 1978 has been replaced by wooden blocks, which fit into each other. The Greenset courts are said to be the standard surface in the European indoor circuit and can be easily dismantled and stored till the Sunfeast Open turns two. Built to host a table tennis World Championship in 1975, the Indoor has got a long overdue image makeover before 11,000 people see the ladies play ball.

The refurbishing cost Rs seven crore approximately and took almost eight months but from Shikha Uberoi to CGK Bhupathi, Chuni Goswami and WTA supervisor Giulia Orlandi, opinion is unanimous that it's been worth it.

Maybe, all this would have happened even without the sensation called Sania. But her presence has lifted a Tier III tournament into a different orbit in a country not used to live top-flight tennis. Going into 2004, the world's biggest democracy wasn't even on the WTA list.

Anastasia Myskina and Elena Likhovtseva, who between them have won 12 singles titles including a Grand Slam event, may be in the draw but there's no denying who the top draw is.

Sania has not lost a WTA Tour final in her own country and the only one here with a singles Tour title this year. She became the youngest Indian to win a Tour event, in Hyderabad 2004. From playing Serena Williams to beat ing Svetlana Kuznetsova and meeting Maria Sharapova, she's been on the history drive since.

Around this time last year, she was making ITF finals regularly but in the time of under-achieving Indian sportspersons, she has spectacularly punched above her weight.

That it took fourth-seed Maria Elena Camerin seven years to break into the top-50 and more than 400 matches for Austrian mother Sybille Bammer to notch up her first main draw victory tells you why Sania thanks god for 2005. She's rested after the Bali bloomer and beginning against a qualifier should help her get into the groove before she takes on the winner of Melinda Czink (121) and Ma Emilia Salerni (103).

Tennis-wise she is in the zone, hitting and moving well in practice and if the draw opens up a little favourably, she really can stay here till next Sunday.

Things aren't quite hunky-dory off the court though. Sania's security reminds you of the protection shield around Michael Jackson. Whether she is a prisoner of her own device or is simply trying to come to terms with being put in 'Neverland' is not central to the discussion here. Whether it distracts her is.

Likhovtseva and Karolina Sprem and Antonella Serra Zanneti, who made the Wimbledon third round this year, are in her half of the draw as is the veteran Argentine Emmanuelle Gagliardi who like Sania is a Slam fourthrounder this year.

Flying in from Paris after Fed Cup duty, it will be important for Myskina too to stay focussed. The willowy top-seed hasn't had a good year and stumbled against Likhovtseva (they can't meet here unless they are playing in the final) in New York but often top guns misfire soon after a major event. Unless, of course, you are Roger Federer.

Likhovtseva has had it better than Myskina this year. True, she was whipped in the French Open semi-final by Mary Pierce but it fetched the Russian a career-high of 15 this year. However, with 23 doubles titles including three this year it is clear where this 30-yearold's priorities lie. That the courts here are on the slower side also isn't something Mahesh Bhupathi's former mixed doubles partner would look forward to. But the Russians are likely to play doubles and that opens the possibility of a high-voltage clash between them with Sania and Virginia Ruano Pascual.

For Sunitha Rao and Shikha Uberoi, this is a wonderful opportunity to gain points. For Pratt, Tanasugarn, Gagliardi and Virginia Ruano Pascual this could be another stop on the Tour. Let the action begin.