Incredible run of Sania Mirza

Rohit Mahajan

Sania Mirza hit her forehand with ferocity, leaping to her toes, swinging the racquet in a forceful arc, hitting the ball flat and downward, not high and loopy. Her power was international, un-Indian, and it took one’s breath away. She was the first Indian woman to hit the ball with the power of a top pro. That seemed incredible, for she had no home-grown role model to look up to, no one who had achieved anything significant on the WTA Tour. She was simply told by her parents to just hit the ball damn hard. ‘They always just told me to hit the ball as hard as I can and we’ll see what happens,’ she said in 2005.

Some six years before Sania’s advent, in early 1998, a wave of excitement struck Indian fans and sports media when Nirupama Vaidyanathan beat Gloria Pizzichini at the Australian Open. That was the first time an Indian woman had played in the main draw of a Grand Slam in singles — and won, too! Another Nirupama, Nirupama Mankad, a seven-time national singles champion, had reached the second round of Wimbledon mixed-doubles in 1971.

If you’re an amateur athlete, you’d know the progression gets incrementally tougher when you move up — the club or the city champion, for instance, is so superior to you and the others; the district champion is better still, and the state and the national champions are just unbelievably good. Both Nirupamas were multiple-time national champions, but in global tennis, they struggled. Global tennis is cut-throat in terms of talent and training, and it requires a lot of money and a whole team — coach, trainer, nutritionist — to be able to just compete at the elite level.

After 1998, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, alas, never figured in a Grand Slam. Her career-best singles ranking was a modest No. 147 — India’s best, but middling at best in the global scene.

Then, as if by magic, came Sania, out of nowhere — swinging hard, walking with a swagger and talking with confidence. She beat the world’s top-10 players and started going where no Indian woman had gone before: third round at the Australian Open, second round at the French Open and Wimbledon, fourth round at the US Open. She won her hometown WTA tournament. At just 19, she was named the WTA Tour’s Newcomer of the Year.

Sania reached a career-high world No. 27 in 2007, at age 20, and we all know the story from there — success in singles and a bit more in doubles, injuries, surgeries, marriage at only 23 in 2010, goodbye to singles in 2012. Injuries and operations chipped away at her body and confidence. The singles dream was over.

“Tennis and the surgeries take a lot out of you,” Sania said in 2012. “I realised at the start of the year that it was impossible for me to pursue a singles and doubles career. Ever since I’ve given up on my singles career, my performance in doubles improved.”

Sania last played a singles match on the WTA Tour in 2012. She was only 25 and married, and could have chosen the path many other women in her position do choose — farewell to a career that was her very life. But Sania decided to continue the grind. She had a great time, winning Grand Slam crowns and becoming the world No. 1 in doubles.

Focus on doubles

Doubles tennis gives those with creaking bones or repaired hamstrings a second chance. In the past, the world of doubles tennis was inhabited by greats such as Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe, even when they were in their prime in singles — McEnroe was ranked No. 1 in both singles and doubles in the 1980s! The grind for the top players is much tougher now, the focus on singles play is much more relentless, and top players rarely play doubles. It’s not that players who figure in doubles are non-athletes; however, in the words of McEnroe, “The doubles are the slow guys who aren’t quick enough to play singles.” In doubles, you need to cover half the court, there’s always someone next to you to buck you up, and it can be less taxing mentally, and more fun. You can be competitive for long — playing mixed-doubles, Navratilova became a Grand Slam champion at nearly 50! At this year’s Australian Open, Sania’s swansong, her partner was Rohan Bopanna, who is 42.

In Indian tennis, the glitter of the doubles success hides the crisis in singles. In men’s singles, Vijay Amritraj was ranked No. 18 in 1980, Ramesh Krishnan No. 23 in 1985, Leander Paes No. 73 in 1998, Somdev Devvarman No. 62 in 2011. Players such as Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Yuki Bhambri have got into the top-100, but found it tough to stay there. Singles tennis is brutal.

Among the women, in both singles and doubles, we had only Sania — she blazed her own path like a comet, successful and inspirational on the court, fearless against ideas stemming from social and religious conservatism, misogyny and patriarchy. She is her own woman, a role model for crores.

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