When a defensive Sania Mirza tried hard to field off questions that challenged her decision to quit tennis after marriage, at a press conference recently, she didn’t seem convinced herself. “Well, it’s my personal choice... If I have to keep playing tennis and travel 35 weeks a year, then why get married...” she said on national television, with a nervous laugh.
Coming from India’s number one women’s tennis player, who still has a long way to go before she retires, it clearly it seemed like anything but a personal choice. The fact that a sportsperson of her stature could be brought to make such a statement, sparks off a debate on the position women sports stars enjoy, no matter how “liberated” they are.
Sania’s statement showed that she almost accepted her ‘fate’, like any other Indian woman would, as if it’s the most ‘natural’ and ‘right’ thing to do post marriage.
Thankfully for Sania, her dad Imran Mirza, often branded “interfering”, interfered for the good this time by calling off the engagement. The decision was “mutual” and “it’s in the best interest of everyone concerned that it should be called off,” he was quoted saying.
Imran clearly had a lot at stake. He saw Steffi Graff in action on television and dreamt of moulding his daughter into a star when she was barely six. and since then, he has been single-handedly mentoring and shaping Sania’s career. Before she shot to fame in the international sports circuit, Imran dedicated his life to driving little Sania around India, to tournaments in various cities. He’s been her mentor, coach and guide in every step of her career and life. This time too, it seems like Imran mentored her life just the way he deemed it right. There was no way he’d let her give up the name, fame and career they painstakingly built over the years, for one Sohrab Mirza who came along the way.
In this whole sports-meets-soap style drama that’s played out on national television, what stands out is Sania’s silence through it all. Her side of the story is unclear save the incompatibility excuse and diplomatic “I wish Sohrab the best in life... ”
To a third person however, it seems like India’s ace tennis player, was reduced to nothing but a mouthpiece, echoing the veiwpoints of both the Mirza families.
“I want to live with my husband...” she said barely 10 days before she broke off the engagement even as her dad said, “It could hurt both. She has to fight her way out of it.”
It is shocking that an international sports star of her stature could be convinced so easily to give it all up like a dutiful Indian bahu and settle into matrimony. And also be swayed back to reality just as easily!
Kudos to the Mirzas though — Sania, dad Imran and mom Naseema — for dealing with the trappings of celebdom with so much grace and professionalism. Perhaps Imran Mirza was right in saying, Sania will fight her way out... like she did with everything else — be it the controversies, the fatwas issued against her, the world media and the daunting task of striking a fine balance between her professional and social commitments.
Sohrab Mirza, by the way, timed his trip to London with the formal announcement of the break-up to run away from the unavoidable attention. They may be 20-odd year olds, from the same cultural and social backgrounds. But they are two worlds apart. The pub hopping Sohrab was never a match for the gutsy, globetrotting, go-getter Sania. This is one match that was meant to be disqualified, right from the start.