Sania capable of reaching top 20, says Brett

NEW DELHI: He sweated it out for more than three hours under hot sun and high humidity, training 50-odd tennis players, but when he opted to face the microphones and the media, the subject was about his best ward from the country who was not present on the occasion — Sania Mirza.

As the coach who had predicted first that Sania would be a top-30 player when she was hovering in the 400s, and who had trained her a few times at his base in Italy, at San Remo, Bob Brett was quick to defend Sania, by saying that she was just suffering from `second year blues' on the tour.

The 52-year-old Australian who has trained the likes of Boris Becker, Goran Ivanisevic, Marat Safin and Mario Ancic, jokingly said that he had perhaps made a mistake in his assessment when he found that Sania's best ranking so far was No. 31.

On a more serious note, Bob Brett said that Sania was capable of reaching the top-20 in the next two years, if she focused as much on strengthening her strong points as she may be obsessed in working on her weaknesses.

"In the last couple of years, Sania has gone beyond all expectations," he said.

"The challenge is to stay up there. Despite much higher levels of competition, the expectations remain high.

"Her game has improved a lot, but there is no end to improvement for all of us. She may be missing easy forehands, but she still has one of the best forehands on the tour. Well, it is not about having a good serve, a strong forehand or volley, but the ability to combine them for a winning game.

She has to believe that she has a big serve. She has to believe that she has the ability to be much higher and have the discipline to work towards progress,'' said Bob Brett.

The genial coach summed up by saying that Sania was a work in progress, indeed a work of art. She has to pursue her dreams and have the motivation to prepare for the next year.

On the subject of Sania changing coaches a few times through the season, the Japanese Davis Cup coach said that it was a question of finding the right chemistry, and the results could be expected only after nine months and any good results in the first few months was just good fortune.