Sania Mirza enjoys ride of her life

“To finish off the season like this is incredible. I’ve basically achieved what any tennis player wants to in an year,” she said during an interaction at the Sania Mirza Tennis Academy here on Tuesday.

It wasn’t easy though. “Physically it has been extremely challenging for me because the last few months have been hectic — I’ve had no time to myself and was sick before I went to the Championship. I just pushed my body everyday and pulled through. Emotionally, it’s been an unbelievable ride for me. To make certain decisions, to skip a tournament to go to Asian Games and to come back with a gold from there, still get into the (year-end) Championship and come back with a win from there as well. If I had written a script it would’ve probably been this way. I am kind of living my dream,” she giggles.

 

The WTA Final may have been the biggest match of their lives but Sania and Cara were cool as ice going into it, thanks to the thorny path they had tread on way to it. “It’s so funny but we were so much relaxed for the final because we thought we were done in the tournament as we were down three match points in the match before. We had finished our match at 10 pm and were back warming up at 11 am for the final. The stress was over and that’s why we played our best I think — we came out swinging and stayed focused,” she says. The result, a 6-1, 6-0 record margin win over Sania’s next partner Hsieh Su-wei and Shuai Peng.

“After we won, Paul McNamee who coaches Su-wei came to me and said ‘you almost played the perfect match you could.’ He also pointed out ‘the first time you missed a ball was at 6-1, 4-0’ which doesn’t happen often. I think we saved our best for the last,” Sania smiles.

Be that as it may, Sania has had to part with teammate Cara Black. “It’s great to finish a partnership on such a high. However, there are some tough decisions that we have to make but as tennis players and athletes we have to look forward and accept change. I respect her decision because as she says I am at the prime of my career right now and she’s already made a comeback — she’s had a baby and maybe she’s thinking of another one. I completely respect, understand that and wish her well. Yes, it’s really hard to win the biggest championship and say this was our last tournament together,” Sania said.

 

It’s not just her tennis opponents who bombarded Sania with the volleys this year. Off the court, her allegiance to the state and even the nation had been questioned, rather cruelly. Sania came up with a cheeky reply to her detractors though. “I actually want to thank all those people who put me through that. It makes me mentally tough as nails. I think fighting a match point feels easy compared to the people that I take on here,” she said.

“It’s not just this year, it’s happening for a long time now. We had a bit of a break and it became dull, so to say, but this year took the cake. I wish these people so well in their lives. I really hope they become Top 5 in the world of what they do. They have really made me tough and I think it has also showed me and my family how much the country supports me. Those few days were tough, but I am glad I came out tougher,” she smiled.

 

Speaking about her new partner, Sania was upbeat. “Su-wei is a great player, we’ve known each other for a very long time and McNamee, who has been one of the best doubles players of all time, will be our coach. We couldn’t have asked for a better team. I hope to do better next season. My aim is to be number one in the world,” she said.

 

 

Sania was also all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I think he’s an extremely dynamic personality, a great leader. I have met him twice so far and he’s tweeted to me a few times which is very exciting. Everytime I win he’s extremely encouraging. For a Prime Minister to actually take notice of athletes and encourage them is amazing. He’s very motivating, loves sport, and told us ‘whatever you guys do over there, sweating and winning, the country is rejoicing here and you probably don’t even know it.’ Those kind of words make you feel wow, you’re really doing something for the country,” Sania said.

 

Sania acknowledged the efforts of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao too. “Everytime I win any tournament, I get a congratulatory message from our CM. For an athlete to get recognition from the leader of your state or your country is inspiring. When he appointed me as brand ambassador, I was truly honoured. I felt it was a big responsibility to get Telangana on the world map. I couldn’t see any better way of doing it except by winning at the world level. Now, people know about the state,” she said.