I'm not a tomboy just because I'm a tennis player: Sania

GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Ranking is just a number game so I don't follow it, says tennis star Sania Mirza.

        

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Keywords: Tennis , Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza burst into our collective consciousness when she turned pro four years ago. In a country starved of female role models her dogged climb on the WTA circuit, unique style and spunky attitude got her the spotlight effortlessly. This year Sania hit her career best ranking of 27, but couldn’t hang on to it for too long. So is this as good as it gets for India’s most successful female tennis player? She sure doesn’t think so.

Anuradha SenGupta: As of August you were number 27 in the world.

Sania Mirza: I don’t follow the rankings, so I don’t know.

Anuradha SenGupta: Does it mean that you are not focused on them, they just happen? You go up and then you go down and we follow it and celebrate when you go up. At least in the media there is a sense that Sania is climbing up the ranking.

Sania Mirza: Yes, I think for tennis players, or for athletes for that matter, ranking is just a number because we judge our performance according to the way we are hitting the ball. At the beginning of the year for example I was somewhere around 70s and everyone was writing me off and said that I am finished and it was all just a fluke. And then suddenly in August I was doing exactly the same things as I was doing in January. My ranking became 28 and suddenly I was all good and perfect for the world again.

Anuradha SenGupta: So, these numbers don’t mean much to an athlete?

Sania Mirza: If we follow numbers then we cannot be performing. Then every time I am playing it’s on my mind that I am 28 or 32 and I have to win this match. Then things cannot happen. I just watched Roger Federer lose to Fernando Gonzalez but that doesn’t make Gonzalez is a Federer. That still keeps Gonzalez eight in the world and Roger one. Tennis has so much depth that whether you are 80, 70, one or 10 really doesn’t matter. It’s about how you play on that particular day. For the media of course it’s different right.

Anuradha SenGupta: I’ll tell you why. It’s our sense of trying to understand what is it that you are aiming for and what is it that you have achieved and plan to achieve.

Sania Mirza: It’s theory. For people in general and the media, numbers are very important whether one or 10.

Anuradha SenGupta: Are you saying that it doesn’t matter to you at all. Wouldn’t you like to be a top 10 player?

Sania Mirza: Yes, I would but I am saying that tomorrow if I were to get injured and retire I am not going to say that I had a very bad career. I am not going to say that I didn’t make to the top 10 so I had the worst career.

Anuradha SenGupta: What are you 20 or 21? Not the ranking, I am talking about the age here.

Sania Mirza: I am 20 (laughs).

Anuradha SenGupta: That’s because we are recording this interview in the week of your birthday.

Sania Mirza: Yes, I am 21 in a couple of days.