Staying in top-40 is tough enough: Sania

Feeling the heat of playing top flight tennis this year, Sania Mirza today said her fans should not expect her to shoot up in world rankings as she did on her debut season on the professional circuit.

"I have always said that the second year was going to be tougher than the first. You cannot jump from top-40 to top-20 in two months," Sania said.

"Staying in top-40 is tough enough. When you are at that level, you play the top girls day in and day out.

"There has not been a lot of semi-finals (appearances) because the competition is deep. Every week you will be playing five-six top-10 players," the 19-year-old from Hyderabad said on the sidelines of a promotional event here.

Sania has had a tough few weeks on the pro circuit this year.

After the breakthrough season last year when she became the first Indian woman to win a Tour title and break into the top-50 in world rankings, the teenager has yet to reach a quarterfinal after 23 weeks of playing on the women's tour.

But a closer look at the scores would show that her matches have been close.

And while she has failed to string together a few wins in the singles, her performance in the doubles has been more than satisfying.

The title triumph at Bangalore and a final appearance at Amelia Island, on both the occasions with Liezel Huber of South Africa, has seen her jump to 39 in doubles rankings. That has given rise to more expectations from her at the Grand Slams.

"There are three more Grand Slams in the year but I have never had a stable partner, not more than two tournaments, except perhaps in the junior days. Liezel has been doing well and she hadn't had a fixed partner either." In between, Sania dumped John Farrington as coach and tied up with former player Asif Ismail as hitting partner.

"I did practice with Asif in Hong Kong (at the start of the season). He was not coaching really, I just had a hit with him.

"And that's what I want now. John was an excellent coach but was not a hitter. At this point of time, I need a hitter," Sania explained.

She said the stint with renowned former player and coach Tony Roche of Australia before the start of the season had proved to be useful.

"My serve has become much better. The other day I was speaking to Rico (Enrico Piperno, Fed Cup captain) and he was telling me how my serving has become smoother and effective.

"So it has been fruitful because that has been the area we had worked on.

Sania was satisfied with India's performance in the Fed Cup last week, where they lost in the Asia-Oceania zonal final to Australia in Seoul, Korea. A win in the final would have put them through to World Group 2 play-offs.

"It was great to reach the final. Obviously we are disappointed that we did not make it to the play-off.

"At one-all (after sharing the singles points) it was always going to be tough to beat them (Australia).

"They are the number one team (Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs in doubles). We will try harder next time." Sania said she loved playing for the Indian team and was eager to don the tri-colour at the Asian Games at Doha later this year.

"I love playing in the Fed Cup and the team spirit that goes with it ... I love playing for the country and am looking forward to Doha," said the girl who won the mixed doubles bronze with Leander Paes at Busan in 2002.

"Hopefully we can win a lot of medals. We have strong teams in the men's as well as women's play.