Federer’s coach to train Sania

Federer’s coach to train Sania

By - Anupam Pratihary



MUMBAI: Planning often proves crucial in athletes’ career. Sania Mirza’s meteoric rise has a lot to do with the meticulous planning of Team Sania. And the team already has a plan laid out for the next year. One among the many is to hire the services of legendary Tony Roche, currently Roger Federer’s coach.

Sania has already set her eyes on breaking into the top 10 next year. And first step in that direction will be one-month training under the famous Australian coach. In December, Sania will fly to Australia to train under Roche. “Discussion is still on to finalise the date for the training with Roche, though John Farrington will continue to be Sania’s travelling coach for the next year,” confirms Imran Mirza, father of Sania. The four-week training with Roche is likely to cost a whopping $10,000 per week. Farrington, with the help of detailed video analyses, has identified overall fitness, service and forward and backward movement as few of the areas that needs to be sharpened to take Sania’s game to the next level.

As Sania is carrying a few niggling injuries, next week’s $200,000 Thailand Open will be the last tournament for her this year. One month break thereafter is aimed at giving Sania’s tired body some much needed rest.

And that’s not all. It is likely that a fitness trainer will join Team Sania next year. “We have a plan to hire a trainer but nothing has been finalised so far,” says Mirza. With a fitter body and crucial inputs from none other than Roche, Sania will surely have the right ingredients to hunt down the high and mighty of the circuit. And more importantly a place amongst them.