Sania’s dad finds fault with tennis skirts - Call for indian dress code

Papa Mirza has a problem — with shooting star Sania’s short skirts and shorter
shorts

Imran is not too happy that pictures of his pretty 18-year-old in all manner of poses and clothes are being splashed all over the front and back pages of newspapers.

Not that the newspapers can be blamed, though. Indian tennis’s latest sensation turns out in the most stunning of outfits: at the Dubai Open quarters earlier this month, she sported tight black shorts and a skin-hugging flaming red tank top, with a matching red visor.

Again at the Hyderabad Open in February, the colours were in place but the combination was reversed: tight black tanktop, red skirt and matching red visor.

But while watching the Hyderabad Open, Imran said, he was shocked his daughter could arouse such madness.

So, the whip has fallen on the tennis dress code: Papa Mirza now wants players’ clothes on court to be cut according to his modest code.

“I wish the dress code for tennis players is made to conform more to the Indian cultural ethos. I wish something is done by the Women’s Tennis Association,” Imran said today.

He claimed many friends — Muslims, Hindus and Christians — had told him the dress code was a “deterrent” preventing them from letting their daughters play tennis.

“I have studied the tennis rule books. It does not say anything about wearing mini skirts and skin-tight tops,” he said, unwittingly touching on the years-old debate on why women tennis players wear skirts and not shorts.

Why the women, and Sania herself, choose to wear skirts is anybody’s guess. Nowhere in the WTA rules are skirts mentioned: they forbid sweatshirts, sweat pants, T-shirts, jeans and cut-offs but do not touch on skirts.

“I need to talk to Sania on the subject first,” Imran said. “I have found that many players wear full sleeves and bigger skirts. Slovak Daniela Hantuchova is an example.”

Sania was not available for comment today. But in a recent interview to a television channel, she had said: “Maybe the dresses I wear are not exactly right, but I guess Islam does have forgiveness. I don’t know if I am doing anything wrong… I am sure God will forgive me.”

Sania’s choice for coach

MUMBAI, March 8. —Sania Mirza, who is in the process of selecting a
personal coach, has stressed that she is looking for a person whom she
can not only personally vibe with but who must also combine tennis
acumen with a knowledge of fitness and strength training.
This, she has stressed, is essential in order to build herself up to
take on the big hitters of women's tennis.
Sania, however, did not disclose the name of the candidate, adding
that the announcement would be made through her agent shortly.
The tennis star was invited to inaugurate a cricket academy at a
social club in the eastern suburbs last night.
The 18-year-old player from Hyderabad also allayed fears about her
injured ankle by claiming that the injury was not as bad as she
thought and she would resume practice in two-three days' time.

Sania watching cricket: Teenage tennis sensation Sania Mirza following the Indo-Pak cricket match on her mobile in Mumbai on Friday, March 11, 2005. She was in Mumbai for a commercial shoot 

Publication devoted to Sania Mirza

Friday, March 11, 2005 (Kolkata):The nation's 'Sania Mania' reached a new high today with the first publication entirely devoted to the teenage tennis sensation Sania Mirza hitting the stands.

The 48-page Bengali booklet Sania Sania includes a long interview with the 18-year old girl, who has pleasantly surprised the country's tennis buffs recently by winning the WTA tournament in Hyderabad after becoming the first ever Indian woman to reach the third round of the Australian Open.

Among those who paid glowing tributes to Sania's exploits in the publication were former Davis Cuppers Naresh Kumar, Jaidip Mukerjea and Subroto Bose and celebrated coach Akhtar Ali.

The booklet, published by Satyajug Prakasahn, has also incorporated comments by Indian cricket skipper Sourav Ganguly and national soccer captain Bhaichung Bhutia on the rise of Sania Mirza. (PTI)

Sania to power HPCL's retail thrust:

Mumbai, Mar 11 : Tennis icon Sania Mirza was today roped in by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) for endorsement of its retail brands.

"HPCL is working out a synergy with Mirza who is currently ranked 77 in the world as per the latest WTA rankings. It revolves around her youthful personality and vibrancy of our brands," HPCL director-Marketing S P Choudhary told reporters here at a function to introduce Mirza as their brand ambassador.

Mirza would promote HPCL's brands for the next two years.

"We are confident that this blend will go a long way in making our brands more popular in consumers' mind," he said.

HPCL has mega brands including CLub HP, Power, Turbojet, HP Milcy, HP Racer, HP Champion and HP Gas in its portfolio.

A tripartite agreement was signed today between HPCL, Mirza and Globosport, a Bangalore-based celebrity management company. PTI

A lakh for a girl child in Sania state - ysr launches drive to improve sex ratio

Sania Mirza walks the ramp as brand ambassador of a gold jewellery chain in Mumbai on Wednesday.

[India News]: Hyderabad: Sania Mirza’s success may spell survival for girl children in Andhra Pradesh, which has offered Rs 1 lakh to families with just one daughter in a bid to balance the sex ratio.

The cash incentive will be given to the daughters when they reach 20 years, provided their parents have had only one child and undertaken birth control measures. The scheme will be effective from April 1.

Eighteen-year-old Sania, the first Indian woman to enter the third round of a Grand Slam and a Hyderabad native, will champion the cause. Appointed the “state ambassador of the girl child”, she will feature on billboards with the caption: “Your daughter may be the next champion”.

“It is a shame that in our country we ascertain the sex of the baby before it enters the world,” chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy said while announcing the incentive on Tuesday on International Women’s Day.

He also promised stringent measures against the sex determination laboratories mushrooming in the state. “These labs encourage female foeticide and/or illegal sale of girl children to unauthorised agencies,” he said.

The existing law against sex determination will be given more teeth to contain the menace of these clinics, Reddy said.

Five years ago, Andhra, where the sex ratio is 943 females to 1,000 males, was rocked by a child-adoption racket in which tribals from backward regions sold their infant daughters to illegal adoption agencies.

“Over 500 girl children acquired by such agencies were finally lodged in government baby centres,” said G.D. Aruna, director of the state’s women and child welfare department.

India, with 927 females to 1,000 males as per the 2001 census, has one of the lowest sex ratios in the world, according to the UN population agency (UNFPA). This is down from 945-to-1,000 more than a decade ago.

The government also announced an annual educational grant of Rs 1,250 to cover tuition fee charged in government schools for girl students from Class IX to XII.

“This initiative is to ensure continuation of girls in schools and junior colleges,” health secretary C.B.S Venkata Ramana said
http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=145499

Sania Mirza walks the ramp as brand ambassador of a gold jewellery chain in Mumbai on Wednesday.09-03-2005 

Sania sermon to moneybags on womens day

Mumbai: Had it not been for Sania Mirza, Women’s Day this year would be the same as last. Or Women’s Day as observed by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

At the CII women’s conference held today at a suburban hotel in Mumbai, women achievers from the corporate world congregated for the second consecutive year.

But since they are limited in number and tend to get recycled every Woman’s Day on the same platforms, Sania, who has climbed to world rank 77 following the Dubai Open, made a difference.

While in previous years, women leaders have held forth on education, employment and empowerment, they had to listen to Sania this time about the necessity of corporate sponsors coming out to fund sports the real way so that more girls like her, or fresh talent like shooter Rajyavardhan Rathore, could come up.

“The right kind of support and training is essential and it is only when companies come forward that we will see more tennis players, more cricket players and more Rathores in the making,” she said.

Sania said she has been “plain lucky” to be sponsored at 13 when she was a non-entity. “Today, there are more companies coming forward to sponsor, not necessarily because they are interested in the sport but more for the mileage they would earn out of it,” she added.

Now the fear is that things won’t change and Sania will make the same speech next year.

For women who usually don’t get to speak at CII events there was hope from an unlikely corner. Central Railway, acting on a suggestion from an NGO, agreed to instal more lights at stations to ensure women’s safety.

The eve of Women’s Day was a day off from work for some women from the red-light areas in south Mumbai, who went on a picnic with an NGO.

But for most others, the day will probably be the same.

J.W. Marriott is again the venue for an event that will draw a pool of women achievers from showbiz.

The same who’s who from the entertainment world — Diya Mirza, Zeenat Aman, Mahima Chaudhuri, Yukta Mookhey and Smriti Irani — will grace the party.

Sania eyes clay play pre-French Open

Mumbai: Admitting that clay is not her favourite surface, tennis sensation Sania Mirza on Monday said that she will play some tournaments on clay before the French open.

"Clay is not my favourite surface but I will be playing some tournaments so that I will be in perfect shape for the French Open", Sania told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.

"As far as playing on grass is concerned I have won junior Wimbledon (doubles) title and I think that will not be a major problem", Sania said.

She said that she was working on her aim to be in top 50 WTA rankings by year end. On her ankle which she twisted at the Dubai Open, Sania said "my ankle is not that bad as I thought. I have been advised some rest but I think it will be fine and I might start playing again within a week."

About tournaments in which she will be participating, Sania, currently ranked 77th in the world following her quarterfinal appearance at the Dubai Open, said she will be playing at Miami later this month and go to France to play some tournaments before tuning up for the Federartion Cup in Delhi.

On her high-profile match with former World No 1 Serena Williams in the third round of Australian open, Sania said, "I felt a bit nervous before entering the court which is natural for an youngster who is facing player of Serena's calibre. But as the match progressed, I became more confident."

Ankle injury not as bad as I thought: Sania

Mumbai: India's latest tennis sensation Sania Mirza on Monday dispelled worries about her ankle injury, saying that the injury is was not as bad she had thought it would be and she would be able to start training in 2-3 days' time.

Sania was speaking after inaugurating a state of the art bowling machine, the Acres Club, along with cricketer Sandeep Patil.

Replying to a question Sania said her immediate goal was to break into the top 50 by this year's end.

The player, currently ranked 77th on the WTA, also hinted that she was in the process of finalising a coach, though, she refused to take any names.

She said that she was looking for a coach with whom she could be comfortable with and he should know a bit more about fitness.

Warning parents against pushing their wards too soon, she said for the first few years the child should have fun on the courts and only after that if one saw potential should they approach some coaches to test the child.

On her biggest strengths, she said, ''It is the support of my family and friends, without that I would not have reached here.'' She said that for tennis to overtake cricket in this country would be near impossible as cricket has become a religion in the country.

''I also like cricket with Sachin Tendulkar being my favourite player,'' she revealed.

On her future tournaments, Sania said she would be playing in the Maimi Open beginning March 17 and then move to France before returning home for the Fed Cup matches.

Sania urges corporates to encourage sportspersons

Teenage tennis sensation Sania Mirza yesterday urged corporates to take initiatives and sponsor talented sportpersons in order to ensure that more athletes could come to the forefront.Teenage tennis sensation Sania Mirza yesterday urged corporates to take initiatives and sponsor talented sportpersons in order to ensure that more athletes could come to the forefront.
"The right kind of support and training is essential and it is only when corporates come forward that we will see more tennis players, more cricket players and more Rathores in the making," she said while speaking on the eve of Women's Day at a conference, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries' women's wing, here yesterday. "I have just been plain lucky," she said while tackling a question on the support she received from the corporate sector in the nascent phase of the 18-year-old's career. Hyderabad-based Sania created history by becoming the first Indian woman tennis player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam event during the Australian Open earlier this year before adding another footnote by winning the WTA Hyderabad Open. "I was lucky that I was sponsored at the age of 13 when I was a non-entity. Today, there are more corporates coming forward to sponsor not necessarily because they are interested in the sport but more for mileage they would earn out of it," Sania said.

Agreeing to a participants' view point that way back in 1970s corporate sponsorship was not heard of nor were women athletes taken seriously, she said "Now times have changed. People are looking beyond cricket. Sport now does not only mean cricket but we need to have some patience before all sports get the desired support and sponsorship", Sania, who reached the quarter-final of the Dubai Open tournament last week, said. Sania, however, reminded the audience that she did not receive all the support from the government, people and the media just because she was a woman,"they did not have pity on me for being a woman but supported me because they knew I had the talent to make it bid. Refusing to accept the gender discrimination, she said, "I do not know why there is such a big issue being made out of being a man or a woman. An achiever is a achiever, irrespective of the fact that whether he is a man or a woman and I personally think that a woman can do as well as a man." On being a role model to thousands of aspiring teenagers, she said, "I have realised the responsibility of being a noticed sportswoman. Everything from my nosering to my sunglasses to my behaviour and my play is being noticed. However, I would rather have people noticing my game than my nosering and my sunglasses."

Sania’s choice for coach

MUMBAI, March 8. —Sania Mirza, who is in the process of selecting a
personal coach, has stressed that she is looking for a person whom she
can not only personally vibe with but who must also combine tennis
acumen with a knowledge of fitness and strength training.
This, she has stressed, is essential in order to build herself up to
take on the big hitters of women's tennis.
Sania, however, did not disclose the name of the candidate, adding
that the announcement would be made through her agent shortly.
The tennis star was invited to inaugurate a cricket academy at a
social club in the eastern suburbs last night.
The 18-year-old player from Hyderabad also allayed fears about her
injured ankle by claiming that the injury was not as bad as she
thought and she would resume practice in two-three days' time.

Sania, Wedded to Tennis

India’s new tennis queen Sania Mirza is a girl with a past of hard work and determination. She had encountered difficulties in find up money for expensive competitions. It was her parents Imran and Nazeema who stood by her in those trials. The girl beat all obstacles and marched to victory.

Sania is now very clear about her plans. The aim is set and all she wants to do is achieve that. No marriage, no boy friend until then. She recalls several Indian stars lost their chances on the world scene because of early marriage.

Sania was only five when her mother watched Steffi Graf’s performance at Wimbledon finals. Nazeema wished her daughter would be a Steffi Graf one day- Sania’s parents and younger sister are with her in her efforts. In the new home in Hyderabad they are celebrating the Sania victories. She says her parents are interested in her playing tennis happily. Her winning is not the main item on their agenda.

It was her mother who made Sania step into the world of tennis at the age of six. Father was not very keen in the first few months. He thought it was too early for the little girl. Then he too joined the promotional drive.

Sania’s rise to fame was quick. Her early successes were unparalleled. Sponsors aid government came to her aid. Imran drove her every whore.
Sania’s ambitions are many. That’s one reason she has suspended her college education for the time being she pursues studies along with her tennis life.

Every six months, Sania evaluates her performance. Efforts are made to correct her weaknesses. It is again her parents who inspire her. They are more like friends, says Sania. The atmosphere is absolutely favorable to her growth. Whenever she returns home with a new feather is her cap, her sister is waiting for her with ‘Welcome’ banners and balloons all around the house.

Sania was born on November.15, 1986 in Mumbai. Her hobbies are swimming and listening to music. Her favourite food is Biriani.

Steffi Graf is her role model. Sania aims at a position among the top20 in world ranking. The entire nation calibrated when Sania became the first Indian to enter the third round of Australian Open. It was a great opportunity that she got in playing against the legendary Serena Williams. Two years ago, Sania was winner of the Wimbledon Junior doubles title. The triumphant journey is on, with the strong team of her parents behind her. Sania dedicates her victories to them, to God and do her trainers.

Sania Mirza, a first among equals

DUBAI: First Indian woman to reach the third round of a Grand Slam event. First Indian woman to win a WTA event. First Indian woman to beat a top-10 player.

The list of firsts grows ever longer for Sania Mirza as she continues to rewrite the record books. It may help that India has never had a woman tennis player of any calibre before her, but there is no doubting Sania's talent. Hitting the ball hard from both flanks, the Hyderabadi teenager has a game unlike any other Indian women's tennis player ever. Her forte is not her defensive, retrieving ability or her consistency, but rather, her power from the baseline.

Everything about Sania oozes confidence. Even after being outplayed by Serbian Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals, the Indian refused to blame her ankle injury for her poor performance. She had upset No 4 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova despite an ankle injury. "I felt absolutely fine. The defeat had nothing to do with my ankle," she asserted. "It's just that Jelena played a superb match. I think I didn't play that badly, she made me look ordinary."

It's a comment that usually comes out of a mature battle-hardened professional, not someone who is just feeling her way around the circuit.

Her performances have sparked off Sania-mania, not just in India but among Indians settled abroad as well. In Dubai, organisers confessed that giving her a wild-card entry was the most inspired decision they had ever made as droves of Sania fans queued up outside the ticket office days she was slotted to play.

But Sania is aware that the stardom will last only as long as she keeps performing. Mentally, she appears very grounded an determined. "It is very tough to achieve stardom, but it's even tougher to stay at the top. People only see the glamour at the end but there is a lot of hard work that has gone into the making of any top athlete. I have worked 12 years to achieve what I have this year," she says. "Sometimes it all gets a bit too much facing the media all the time and answering the same questions again and again but that's the way it is. This is what I opted for and now I have to deal with it. It's not easy but I can't complain."

Sania satisfied with her Dubai trip

Dubai, March 4: A day after her dream run came to an abrupt end at the $1 million Dubai Open women's tennis championship, tennis star Sania Mirza took the crushing defeat in her stride and gave full marks to her opponent World No. 28 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Monte-Negro."Tennis is such a game that you win some and lose some. She (Jankovic) played a great match and did not allow me to settle down," Sania told PTI looking back at her 2-6 2-6 defeat in the quarterfinals last night.

The Indian ace, who is sure to move up from her previous world ranking of 97, also brushed aside suggestions that she had a bad day in office.

"I don't think that it was a bad day. Overall, I'm satisfied with the way I had played this week," Sania said. Sania's stunning show here as a wild card saw her ousting world number 36 Jelena Kostanic of Croatia and US Open champion and world number 7 Svetlena Kuznetsova in the first two rounds.

The 18-year-old sounded quite confident and was not at all upset with the way her luck changed. "I may go home tomorrow. But I have not yet decided my plans," she said.

Sania loses, but crowned queen of India

New Delhi, March 4: Although Indian tennis came to a dead stop at the Dubai Open when Sania Mirza lost in the quarters of the Dubai Open to Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, the teenage sensation set the country's imagination ablaze with her performances there.However, earlier, riding on a whirlwind of expectations, Sania justified her wild card entry into the Dubai Open when she blitzed the current US champion Svetlana Kuznetsova with a power game that was both captivating and energising and thereby took India into an area that was untrod heretofore.

It filled the Indian vacuum in mega sports that had just one thing to captivate it - cricket.

However, the thirst for variety existed, but sadly (till Sania came along) it remained unquenched for so long after hockey was pronounced dead due to an internal political haemorhaege and soccer never even got off the life-support system. A major factor that has put tennis under the spotlight even further is the fact that a girl, a pretty teenager at that, has achieved so much in so little time. A waif that overnight, turned into a giant-killer.

The story is not that Sania lost, the crux of the Sania Dubai experience is that she has fired-up countless imaginations back home giving a filip to the aspirations of youngsters across all sports, especially tennis.

Sania has shown that an Indian, educated and trained at home, has the weaponry, in terms of intelligence, power and the game, to overcome the best in the world.

This Australian Open (where Sania went down to top ranked Serena Williams) and the Dubai Open are the first few steps to eventual greatness.

The next in line is the most coveted trophy in tennis, Wimbledon. Sania has enough time to overcome her niggling injuries to make a good showing there.

Sania, post-Dubai may be down but certainly not out, but she has walked into the hearts and minds of her countrymen and tennis-lovers across the globe with her giant-killer performance.

In gratitude the nation has embraced the youngster and a billion voices are rooting for her.

‘My game’s OK, I must focus on my fitness’

She threw her racquet in disgust at one point and looked despairingly at her family when she hit the ball wide but despite her loss in the quarters at the Dubai WTA, Sania Mirza seems to be enjoying her tennis. ‘‘I’ve had a fantastic week. I’m very happy with the way I’m hitting the ball. It was just Jelena’s day yesterday’’, Sania said on Friday.

Excerpts from an interview:

ON HER FITNESS: Even the top ranked players have some chinks in their armour. I’m not worried that I didn’t get too many first serves in yesterday, what I really want to focus on is my physical fitness.

ON HER ANKLES: They’ve given me a few problems; they get twisted, swollen and that can really hurt. In the match against Kuznetsova, I was in tears because of the pain. But I didn’t have any problems in my match last night, so I don’t know why my ankle flares up.

ON NEEDING A COACH: We are working on a few options. But I did defeat the world number 6 without a coach, so its not a major problem

ON WHAT’S UP NEXT: I take it one game at a time. I want to break into the top 50 by the end of the year. I’ll be playing the event in Miami next week or the US$75,000 tournament in France.

I need a good looking man: Sania

Dubai, March 3: Long school holidays stretching into the summer led Sania Mirza to find a hobby. Tennis was the winner and now, aged just 18, Mirza is the toast of a billion Indians.The youngster spent those holidays honing a power-packed game -- one which enabled her to become the first Indian woman to win a WTA Tour title last month and this week to beat US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

It has vaulted her onto the front pages in her homeland but despite the frenzied praise the teenager remains firmly grounded.

She had never set out to become a millionaire tennis star, merely fell in love with her hobby. "Maybe if I was a guy I would be playing cricket," she told Reuters earlier this week.

"My parents were always very sports-minded. They never wanted me to play tennis professionally, but they wanted their child to play a sport, whatever it was.

"I used to go swimming and passed the tennis courts every day, and that's how it started. My mum said 'Why don't you play tennis in your summer holidays because you have nothing to do except swim for an hour or whatever?', and that's how I started playing.

"And tennis just suited my style and personality."

DISARMINGLY HONEST

It is not uncommon for the Tour's leading lights to wax lyrical about the strength of their forehand or serve or tactical acumen, but Mirza is disarmingly honest about her strengths and weaknesses.

"To be honest, I'm not that fast on my feet," she said. "But I have amazing timing on the ball which is why, although I'm not that strong, I still hit the ball harder than most of the players on the circuit.

"It just suited the way I'm built. Maybe if I played squash or badminton I needed more movement, more reflexes. So, it just happened.

"It wasn't as if we sat down one day and decided I was going to become a professional tennis player. It just happened over a period of time.

"Until I was 12 or 13 it was just fun. We had never thought that I was going to make it. My parents never put any pressure on me, even when I was 10 years old and went to play a match. They never told me I had to win it.

"They always just told me to hit the ball as hard as I can and we'll see what happens."

Nobody could have predicted what would happen.

Earlier this year she became the first Indian woman to reach the third round of a grand slam, before eventually falling to eventual champion Serena Williams at the Australian Open.

POTENTIAL BOYFRIEND

Two weeks later she made history again, beating Russian's Alyona Bonderenko in the final of the Hyderabad Open in front of Congress President Sonia Gandhi to become the first Indian woman to win a Tour event, 46 years after Ramanathan Krishnan became the first Indian man to win a title, at London's Queen's Club.

But success has not come easy and it has taken sacrifice.

"When I was 12 or 13, it was difficult, yes," she said. "I think it's natural to want to do what others your age are doing, so I guess you do have to make some sacrifices.

"I realised that if you don't make those sacrifices I don't think you can make something out of your life and I wouldn't be sitting here now.

"Sometimes I did feel I was missing out, like sometimes I'd want to go to a birthday party but I couldn't because I had tennis at four.

"Or sometimes I'd want to go out for a movie but I couldn't because I had to get up at six every morning. But it doesn't bother me now because I'm very happy with what is happening with my life right now."

Such is her devotion to the sport, she has no time for distractions. She does, however, know what she is looking for in a potential boyfriend.

"He has to be good looking and over six feet tall," she giggled.

"No, on a serious note, I think he needs to understand me and he needs to be a nice person and not have any ego hassles.

"I need a guy who understands me."

Sania's meteoric rise

A disappointed Sania Mirza reacts after missing a ball against Serbian opponent Jelena Jancovic, during their quarter-final match at the Dubai Open tennis Tournament on Thursday, March 3, 2005. Jelena Jancovic won the match 6-2, 6-2.(AP Photo) BANGALORE: Sania Mirza's "meteoric" rise has signalled the dawn of a new era in Indian tennis, former Davis Cupper Ramesh Krishnan says but feels the teenager needs to work on her game a lot to face all kinds of situations on court. "In the last six weeks or so, Sania's rise has been meteoric," the former Indian Davis Cup captain said. A veteran of many Davis Cup battles, Krishnan said there is room for improvement as far as Sania's game is concerned. "From what little I have seen, she seems to prefer a high bouncing court. She needs to be ready to face all situations." Sania Mirza returns the ball to opponent Jelena Jancovic, during their quarter-final match at the Dubai Open tennis Tournament on Thursday, March 3, 2005. Jelena Jancovic won the match 6-2, 6-2.(AFP Photo) Krishnan, who runs a tennis academy in Chennai, described Sania’s performance till the quarter-final stage at Dubai Open this week as "outstanding". On her way to the last quarters, 97-ranked Sania defeated World number 36 Jelena Kostanic of Croatia and and then overpowered US Open champion and world number seven Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. She however lost to world number 28 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the quarter-finals. Sania Mirza returns the ball to Svetlana Kuznetsova, of Russia, during the second round match at the Dubai Open tennis tournament on Tuesday, March 1, 2005. Sania won 6-4,6-2.(AP Photo) Tennis sensation Sania Mirza created waves in the Indian sports arena when she reached the third round of Australian Open in Melbourne. The 18-year-old Mirza, who got a wild card entry into the Australian Open in Melbourne, however, lost to Williams. Williams took just 56 minutes to defeat Mirza and sail into the fourth round. Sania shot to top 100 after winning her first WTA title in Hyderabad. Sania Mirza hits a return to Jelena Kostanic, of Croatia, during the second round match at the Dubai Open tournament on Monday, February 28, 2005. Sania Mirza won 7-6, 6-4, 6-1. (AP Photo) On Sania's ability to break into the top 50 Krishnan said, "That would be premature to talk at this point in time." Sania who aims to be among the top 50 by the end of the year, could see her ranking climb to 77, after her successful run at Dubai Open. India needs to produce many more "Sanias" to promote tennis in a big way, he said. "You need good infrastructure - be it training or competition so that any outstanding talent will come through."

I enjoy playing under pressure: Sania

I enjoy playing under pressure: Sania

The Asian Age India | K. Moses

Hyderabad: Sania Mirza may have lost the quarter-final match to Jelena Jankovic on Thursday but has won hearts unlimited with her giant-killing acts at the Dubai Open.

But India's best woman tennis player ever, who fought troublesome ankles and higher ranked opponents to barge through the first two rounds, keeps her feet firmly on the ground.

She gives due credit to the player who ended her dream run. "She was just too good and did not allow me to play my game," Sania told The Asian Age of World number 28 Jankovic. Excerpts:

Q: Where did it go wrong on Thursday?

A: I don't think it went wrong. Just that she just played too well and did not allow me to play my game.

I was trying to do a bit too much because she was not missing anything and was getting her way around. I guess that's why it looked like I was committing a lot of mistakes. But I really don't think I was making that many errors. She was playing so tight and forcing me to go for some extras.

I think she played one of the best matches. I saw her play earlier but she was never as accurate as she was against me... I guess it is one of her days.

Q: Her strong points?

A: She wouldn't let anything get past her. She was getting whatever I threw at her, back on the court. Also, she was going for the lines frequently and was getting on them. She served very good too, blasting the big ones in at the right times.

Q: How bad were your ankles yesterday? How are they now?

A: They were fine but were hurting me a little bit. But it's not gonna heal overnight. I guess I will have to wait for a couple of days to get the exact picture.

Q: Did you expect to get this far when you entered the tournament on a wild card?

A: No, when I came here I was only looking as far as the first round. I never really thought I would make it to the quarterfinals of such a big tournament.

This is the strongest field (the cut-off rank in the main draw being 36) you have played in after the Australian Open. How difficult is life at the top?

It is very tough but I am enjoying every bit of it. I enjoy hard work. I enjoy playing in front of all these people. I enjoy playing under pressure. You know you have to constantly learn and do a bit more than what you used to earlier. Playing at these (big) tournaments teaches you all those things and motivates you to push forward.

Q: How satisfying was the win against reigning US Open champion Kuznetsova?

A: It was a big bonus. It was a great feeling, especially since she is highly ranked player and a Grand Slam champion. I was just lost for words after that win.

Every match you play you have to give your 100 per cent but the drive and motivation to take on Kuznetsova came from my first round win against Kostanic, who is a totally different type of player — a hard hitter of the ball. She is a left-hander who is good at counter-punching and uses her pace cleverly... so to overcome a player of that variety was a good experience for me. My confidence level grew after that match.

Q: You must be very happy with your overall performance in Dubai...

A: Yeah, it feels good to have beaten a top-50 player (Jelena Kostanic) and follow that up with a victory over someone in the top-10 (Svetlana Kuznetsova).

It's been a great year for me... I hope it continues this way.

Q: At 77, you are very close to your renewed target of breaking into the top 50 in world rankings this year. Any plans to further upgrade your goal?

A: No, I would like to hit the target I have set first before thinking of resetting it. For the time being, it's the top 50 on mind.