Mirza's immediate goals remain modest

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - What a difference a year makes.

Sania Mirza arrived at the 2005 Australian Open as a virtual unknown, ranked 166th and needing a wild-card entry. This time, the 19-year-old Indian is seeded 32nd following a year in which she had to keep raising her goals because she kept surpassing them, landed lucrative endorsement contracts and had to deal with controversy.

"It's been a phenomenal year. To be honest, I did surprise myself to some extent," Mirza said Sunday, a day before the season-opening Grand Slam tournament starts. "I really didn't think it was going to happen so fast."

Mirza, a former Wimbledon junior doubles champion who turned professional in 2003, became the first Indian woman to reach the third round of a Grand Slam event a year ago, losing here to eventual champion Serena Williams. She went on to better that by making the fourth round of the U.S. Open, and later won a tournament in her hometown of Hyderabad.

"It's amazing ... the amount of people that are so proud of you when you go back home, the amount of people that come up to you and say, 'I'm proud to be Indian, you're doing a great job for India,"' Mirza said. "It's just amazing that you can bring so many smiles to so many faces.

"It all started here," she added. "It's always going to be very special for me to come back."

Despite her rapid rise, increasing confidence and dreams of winning a Grand Slam title someday, Mirza said her immediate goal remains modest, to win her first-round match Tuesday against qualifier Victoria Azarenka.

"Obviously people are going to expect a lot more from me," she said. "Expectations just come with the package. "Sometimes you need to shut out some things and go on court and play your 100 percent."

While she has become a hero and role model to many, which Mirza said motivates her, she also has had to deal with the negative side of fame.

As a Muslim - her parents were on the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca during last year's Australian Open - Mirza generated criticism at home by wearing the short tennis skirts that are standard attire on the women's tour.

"I think everything's got its pros and everything's got its cons," Mirza shrugged. "The way you take wins, you need to take the losses. The way you take all the positive things, you need to take all the negative things."

She's been working on improving her game, recently spending four weeks in Sydney with Tony Roche, who coaches the top-ranked man, Roger Federer.

"We kind of worked on my serve, changed my action a little bit, worked a lot on my volleys, getting some variation in my game," she said.

Mirza started playing tennis as a 6-year-old after initially being unable to get any coaching because she was too small. But her parents saw that she had talent and kept backing her. She recalls watching on TV as Steffi Graf played at Wimbledon.

"My dad said, 'Can you imagine our daughter playing there one day?' My mom said, 'I would give my life if she could play there,' Mirza said.

"When I walked on the Wimbledon Center Court, I think that was the most special moment for me because it was like a dream come true for my parents."