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Wimbledon 2015: ‘It is an amazing feeling to wake up as champion’

Indian tennis ace says she is looking forward to bigger and better things

New Delhi: "It's an amazing feeling to wake up as Wimbledon champion," said Sania Mirza after crowning herself to glory following a historic triumph at the most coveted Grand Slam championship.

Sania and 'Swiss Miss' Martina Hingis scripted a grand comeback after trailing 2-5 in the final set of the women's doubles final and the Indian said the match brought the best out of all four players.

They eked out a 5-7 7-6(4) 7-5 win over familiar rivals Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina after battling hard for two hours and 25 minutes at the hallowed Centre Court.

"It was the best match you could have asked for in the final, all four of us put everything out there. We played amazing tennis. I am glad that we came out on top. It's amazing feeling to wake up as Wimbledon champions," Sania told PTI during an exclusive interaction from London.

Sania said she was in no mood to rest as she has already trained her eyes on the hard court season, leading up to the US Open - last Grand Slam of a calender year.

"I am looking forward towards bigger and better things. Soon hard court season will start again. I just have to keep working hard," she said.

Sania, who recently became world number one in doubles, now has won titles at all Grand Slam events. She won three mixed doubles (two with Mahesh Bhupathi and the other with Bruno Soares) and the first ever women's doubles on Saturday.

"This is something, we dream of and try to achieve. I am very fortunate that I have been able to achieve it in my career. I am really happy to have played Wimbledon final and won it," she said.

Vesnina, who has paired with Sania and even reached French Open final with the Indian in 2011, was terrific at the net, often came out with audacious volley winners.

The 28-year-old Sania said Makarova and Vesnina were no easy nuts to crack.

"They were playing their best tennis and so were we. We started very aggressively and played a great tie-break in the second set and to come back from 2-5 in the final set was amazing, we kept telling each other that all we have to get is one break and we had to become little bit more aggressive which we did," she said, recounting the tussle in the summit clash.

It was third final that Sania and Hingis played with the Russian pair and they have emerged champions all the times.

Sania said the Russians played better at Wimbledon than what they did in earlier summit clashes.

"This surface makes a big difference. At Indian Wells and Miami, we played on hard courts. Grass courts suits them better because they served pretty big. Our big strength is return and it sort of negated that."

Asked about her preference of courts, she said, "I like grass a lot but hard courts are still remains my favourite," concluded India's greatest ever female tennis player.

( Source : PTI )
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