Sania Mirza

How many times havent my jaws dropped at even a small glimpse of her. I just couldn't restrain myself on blogging about Sania Mirza. How could I ? There was a period where i lost interest in tennis. Sometime when Graf and Hingis called it their day (though hingis came back unexpectedly). Those were the years i completely lost touch with tennis ( be it male or the female). So i remember the last time i saw tennis with emotion was when Sampras was on the Hard court , Ivanesevic ruthlessly meted the aces to his opponent. But after years of passive tennis(kept informed of it only by the print), Sania's tennis sort of got me back on my toes to watch tennis again.

But is she another bait at the hands of the media? Is she over rated ? i wouldnt completely refuse this.It is generally against my nature to review a person whom i like so much . I somehow overlook their weaklinks with the intense adulation showered upon them. So its kind of a tough transition from an obstinate follower of a star to a blogger who has to see both sides of the coin.

Well above all sania is kind of basking in the glory of last year. Hasnt happened in the history before when a teenager, moves from the 700 th odd rank to the 38th. The entry into the 3rd round of the australian open , to the crown at the hyderabad open and a number of other WTA and ATP doubles and singles feats.In a Nutshell her tennis was a tour de force.She took the country by a storm and a lot of endorsements flowing her way.She needs a pat on the back for the maturity with which she has handled the adulation. She has the sensibilities her age tends to obviate. Coming out in the open to flank Khushboo and the accepting the comments the press has over her attire, inspite of the taboo that is pressed on by her reliegon.From dashing looks to attending any function that has a social value attaced to it , she has come a long way.

But is this all we expect from a tennis star . For a star ,yes, this would suffice but for a tennis star, i think she has lots of ground to cover , before she could actually ends up in the history books as an idol( this was a controversy some time back when the Government said she is nt that big a star to enter the history text as the youth icon ).Now about her tennis PRESENTLY i feel that she is a usual "one trick pony" , that India over the years has produced .She has an amazing forehand and no other weapon to back it up .Lots of unforced errors and a weak conversion of the second serve.We do have steffi who just had an amazing forehand and very average other facets to her game , who made it big. But not all can have her perfection in terms of first serve and unforced errors.I personally feel that Sania is camouflaging her weakness (in the form of a fore hand only athlete) in the name of natural game. She needs to buck up in other departments before she can actually satisfy the huge fan following that she boasts of back home. Yeah foreign coach problem is acceptable but she from her side has to reduce the number of unforced errors if she needs her name ( and the country's) to stand apart in the world tenis arena.

Not taking any credits away from last year's performance , She has to bear the brunt of the immense hype that the media has provided the country with. How well she takes it and moves forward with the game is what we have to wait and watch.As Vijay Amrithraj said " she either makes or breaks her career , in the next couple of years ". She needs to wake up that it wont be long before she is fed out with the same treatment that Saurav Ganguly received if she continues to be a "one trick pony". On one side people are waking up that female sportspersons other than her in India aren't gettin the same money(even if their achievement was on par to hers) as she is , and on the other people are speculating what she would do after her ephemeral tennis career. The best way to shut all mouths would be to answer back with consistent performance.