Sania mirza to focus on 'singles'

Tennis icon Sania Mirza feels that time has come to be back into action and said she will focus on 'singles', which still remains her priority.

''I am pretty young, I am just 22, to focus on doubles.

''Even though doubles gives me confidence when I am not doing good in singles, my priority remains singles,'' Sania told NDTV today.

However, she was elated on the fact she has been paired with former Davis cupper Mahesh Bhupati to compete in mixed doubles competition in the Australian Open. The duo made the final last year in their maiden event as a pair. 

The Hyderabadi-player has recently participated in a three-week training camp at the Tennis Village in Bangalore with Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna to sharpen her skills and fitness, and get back to shape again.

She further admitted that post-Olympics was a bad phase of her life. ''Every sportsperson goes through low in career. And I too has gone though that phase. It was infact painful for me to watch the US Open.'' But there was my family, friends and others to help me come out of the dark phase. ''I feel lucky on this part'', she added.

On people commenting on her that she has been losing focus on her game due to her high-profile personality, Sania replied, ''This is not new for me to hear all this things from the public. 

People have opinion on everything. But it would be dumb on my part to say that tennis is not my priority.

''It is because of tennis for which I am here and who I am,'' she stressed.

She admitted that 2008 has been altogether remained a good year for India in sports, ''Abhinav Bindra's gold in Beijing Olympics definitely was the best thing happened to the country, which had never happened in the recent years.

''Yesterday's win by the Indian cricket team by six wickets over England was also a glory to the country,'' Sania, a cricket buff and a big fan of master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, said.

She also praised badminton star player Saina Nehwal for her recent accomplishments.

''Its a good thing that people have started following other sports than cricket. It will boost the sports and encourage players.'' She further added, ''I feel pride to be an athlete of India and I definitely hope to do better. I am a lot more patient now and the focus is rightly on the present moment and making the most of it in the next season.''