Sports India

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 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 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.

The good wishes of millions, including Indian Olympic medal winner Rajyavardhan Rathore, would be powering Narain Karthikeyan’s Forumla One dream run on Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix.

“I am all for Narain. With me are the hopes and prayers of every Indian. I have full faith that he is going to do the impossible. With Narain reaching the highest stage of competitive racing, it can only mean good times for motor sports in the country,” says the sharpshooter who is currently touring Australia.

Karthikeyan’s success is sure to be a boon for other sports disciplines in a land where cricket is religion, insists Prakash Padukone, the former Indian shuttler who created a historical landmark by winning the All English Badminton championship. “Narain and Sania Mirza have been able to draw people’s attention away from cricket. But it’s important that we keep encouraging fresh talent to emerge. Otherwise the euphoria could die out soon,” he warns.

Vece Paes, father of tennis ace Leander, also revels in the remarkable performances of India’s young sports achievers. “It’s a treat to watch these bays and girls do so well on the international circuit. I am happy that Karthikeyan, Sania and Leander have given other sports, besides cricket, their due place in the public eye,” he says.

Despite Karthikeyan’s amazing feat, Gagan Gill, one of India’s leading rallyists, feels that a lot more remains to be done. According to him: “Narain didn’t get the kind of publicity Sania has got. It’s disappointing how sports are handled in this country. Although our youngsters are doing quite well, politics in our sports bodies is marring their achievements.”

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.

A day after her dream run came to an abrupt end at the USD one 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 said in Dubai 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.

Long school holidays stretching into the Indian 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 U.S. 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.”

After qualifying 12th and 14th respectively following this morning’s final qualifying session, the first under the new “aggregate” system, Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro gave a strong drive in today’s Albert Park race to bring their Jordan Toyota EJ15s home in 15th and 16th place at the rookies’ first Formula One Grand Prix.

NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN (EJ15/02) 15th

“I had a very bad start and then stayed behind Monteiro for a while. After the first pit stop, I pushed a lot and it was a trouble-free race. It is very good to finish the first Grand Prix of the season and I am looking forward to the next race, even though the weather conditions will be much warmer and humid.”

TIAGO MONTEIRO (EJ15/03) 16th

“The goal was to finish the race and this is what we managed to achieve. We are not the only team apparently, as all the cars seemed pretty reliable. As I said during the weekend, we need to finish races and collect as much information as possible. There are so many things I have learnt today and that is the most important. For the next race, I would like to make some changes to my seat position and my seat belt. I had a great start but then I lost a lot of time when people were overtaking me so I have to work on that but otherwise I am very happy to have finished the race.”

TREVOR CARLIN

SPORTING DIRECTOR

“We are very glad we finished the year’s first Grand Prix. We got both cars to the finish and that is an achievement, even though it would have been nice to finish a bit higher up the results table. Now we are looking forward to going to Malaysia and if possible improving the car a little bit.”

COLIN KOLLES

TEAM PRINCIPAL & MANAGING DIRECTOR

“Before the Grand Prix our aim was to get both cars to the end - so I am very happy that they finished the race in the same conditions they started in and that there were no nasty surprises. “
Pos Driver Team
1 Fisichella Renault(M)
2 Barrichello Ferrari(B)
3 Alonso Renault (M)
4 Coulthard Red Bull (M)
5 Webber Williams (M)
6 Montoya McLaren (M)
7 Klien Red Bull (M)
8 Raikkonen McLaren (M)
9 Trulli Toyota (M)
10 Massa Sauber (M)
11 Button BAR Honda (M)
12 R.Schumacher Toyota (M)
13 Villeneuve Sauber (M)
14 Sato BAR Honda (M)
15 Karthikeyan Jordan Toyota (B)
16 Monteiro Jordan Toyota (B)
17 Friesacher Minardi (B)
DNF M.Schumacher Ferrari (B)
DNF Heidfeld Williams (M)
DNF Albers Minardi (B)

Jordan Grand Prix set the fastest qualifying lap of the Bridgestone runners with driver Narain Karthikeyan in 9th position after the first ever qualifying session under the new format for 2005. Team mate Tiago Monteiro finished 13th quickest in preparation for tomorrow’s final qualifying and Australian Grand Prix race. Both drivers were reasonably satisfied with their provisional qualifying laps, which followed a case of mixed fortune during Saturday morning’s two 45-minute practice sessions when Karthikeyan lost part of the last session after a spin due to wet conditions.

QUALIFYING SESSION 1
Narain Karthikeyan 9th 1:44.357
Tiago Monteiro 13th 1:46.846

TIAGO MONTEIRO (EJ15/03)
“It was quite tricky as you do not know what to expect and you have to push on your first lap out. However, the wet conditions were the same for everyone, but as a rookie it is not the easiest solution. I have made a few mistakes with braking and almost went out twice as I was pushing and trying to do my best.”

NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN (EJ5/02)
“Qualifying was a bit tricky for the rookies today as it was so slippery. I am happy with what I have done. Obviously I could have pushed a bit harder but I am learning step by step. ”

TREVOR CARLIN
SPORTING DIRECTOR
“It was quite an interesting session with mixed conditions. We started out in heavy rain which obviously put us behind a little bit as the track dried, but then with the downfall, we had a bit of luck. It is a great start. It is nice to be 9th even though we would be very lucky to finish there tomorrow.”