Sania Mirza, India’s tennis icon for aspiring women players has been on a song in recent weeks. In fact she has never had so good after her big jump two years ago. And when she beat Martina Hingis, currently ranked 12 in the world, to enter the pre-quarter-finals of the $600,000 WTA Tour event in Los Angeles, Sania appeared to have reached her maximum potential
Having drifted into the wilderness somewhat after her dizzy rise, Sania appears to have spent a lot of time learning even while recuperating from niggling injuries. The improvement showed in the Cincinnati Open where she made the semi-final grade. This was followed with the final in Stanford and another impressive display in San Diego pushed her up to the quarter-finals.
In all these tournaments she beat players rated well above her, and with the victory over Martina, she stood at 29, a ranking she could not have possibly dreamt of at the beginning of the year where nothing worked for her. By August end, the 20-year old Hyderabadi scaled new career-high rankings - 27th in singles and four places to 20th in doubles in the latest WTA rankings.
Sania Mirza is the best thing that could have happened to Indian women’s tennis. Her achievements have been followed keenly by younger players and today, thanks to Sania, more and more girls are taking to the game. That of course was to be expected.
Indian tennis is certainly on the move at the lower level though one wishes the same could be said for the higher spots where it would be impossible to think of the country’s fate but for aging shoulders of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, still formidable personalities, particularly in the doubles irrespective of whom they are partnering. Following his recent exploits at New Haven partnering Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia, Mahesh Bhupathi rose two places to figure at the 18th position, while his erstwhile partner Leander Paes maintained his 8th position.
In the ATP rankings released August end, Rohan Bopanna dropped an unimaginable 38 places to stand at 261st position. His other compatriots Prakash Amritraj and upcoming Karan Rastogi also followed his suit slipping two and four places, to be placed at 272nd and 344th positions respectively. The only consolation in the singles rankings was Sunil Kumar Sipaeya, moving up six rungs to be in the 446th position.
Coming back to Sania Mirza, one feels that the Indian star, despite the tremendous performance in recent weeks, has to work much harder if she has to break into the top twenties or even higher ranks. There is a lot of difference in the tennis played in these categories.
The difference was obvious when Sania met Maria Sharapova, the Russian ace recently. Maria won in straight sets, hardly raising a sweat and Sania was brought down to the earth. In fact, it is a different ball game when players in the top ten meet players in the top twenty and lower.
Sania has to improve her service if she has to make an impression in the top ten. She has the determination and that should help her work to match with the highest grade of players in the world. But for that she has to wait for some more time.
Source: http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/7447
Having drifted into the wilderness somewhat after her dizzy rise, Sania appears to have spent a lot of time learning even while recuperating from niggling injuries. The improvement showed in the Cincinnati Open where she made the semi-final grade. This was followed with the final in Stanford and another impressive display in San Diego pushed her up to the quarter-finals.
In all these tournaments she beat players rated well above her, and with the victory over Martina, she stood at 29, a ranking she could not have possibly dreamt of at the beginning of the year where nothing worked for her. By August end, the 20-year old Hyderabadi scaled new career-high rankings - 27th in singles and four places to 20th in doubles in the latest WTA rankings.
Sania Mirza is the best thing that could have happened to Indian women’s tennis. Her achievements have been followed keenly by younger players and today, thanks to Sania, more and more girls are taking to the game. That of course was to be expected.
Indian tennis is certainly on the move at the lower level though one wishes the same could be said for the higher spots where it would be impossible to think of the country’s fate but for aging shoulders of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, still formidable personalities, particularly in the doubles irrespective of whom they are partnering. Following his recent exploits at New Haven partnering Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia, Mahesh Bhupathi rose two places to figure at the 18th position, while his erstwhile partner Leander Paes maintained his 8th position.
In the ATP rankings released August end, Rohan Bopanna dropped an unimaginable 38 places to stand at 261st position. His other compatriots Prakash Amritraj and upcoming Karan Rastogi also followed his suit slipping two and four places, to be placed at 272nd and 344th positions respectively. The only consolation in the singles rankings was Sunil Kumar Sipaeya, moving up six rungs to be in the 446th position.
Coming back to Sania Mirza, one feels that the Indian star, despite the tremendous performance in recent weeks, has to work much harder if she has to break into the top twenties or even higher ranks. There is a lot of difference in the tennis played in these categories.
The difference was obvious when Sania met Maria Sharapova, the Russian ace recently. Maria won in straight sets, hardly raising a sweat and Sania was brought down to the earth. In fact, it is a different ball game when players in the top ten meet players in the top twenty and lower.
Sania has to improve her service if she has to make an impression in the top ten. She has the determination and that should help her work to match with the highest grade of players in the world. But for that she has to wait for some more time.
Source: http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/7447
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