I’m always focused on trying to stay fit: Sania Mirza
"An Olympic medal is the only achievement missing in my long career"
Hyderabad: At 34, Sania Mirza continues to play with the same energy and enthusiasm. She continues to inspire many young tennis players with her incredible performances. On yet another comeback journey, the Hyderabad tennis star with Andreja Klepac reached the women’s doubles semifinals of the Qatar Open before losing to second-seeded Nicole Melichar and Dutch player Demi Schuurs in three sets recently. It was the first tournament for the Indian, who recovered from Covid-19 recently.
“Considering that I had not played a match for almost a year and played very little in the last three years, making the semi-final stage was very satisfying,’’ she said in an interview to Telangana Today.
Sania, who has stressed a lot on her fitness, particularly after her motherhood, revealed that working on fitness has become a way of life for her and irrespective of whether she is competing in tournaments or not. “I’m always focused on trying to stay fit. During the pandemic I worked out at home and with physical drills in my yard and on the tennis court at home. So, physical fitness was not an issue when I returned to tournament play in Doha a few weeks back though match fitness is.’’
Apart from tennis, Sania’s biggest priority is her two-year-old son Izhaan and for that a lot more planning is required as for training and tournaments. “A lot more planning needs to be done now as Izhaan is my biggest priority and I need continued support from my family to face the challenges that keep cropping up and have to be negotiated.
“I try to keep him (Izhaan) away from the courts during the training sessions except on the rare occasions when I want him to have some fun while playing around with me.’’
Sania said her focus is on the postponed Tokyo Olympics, which is just a few months away. “An Olympic medal is the only achievement missing in my long career and of course, it would be amazing to win one for my country. But a professional tennis player’s schedule does not give us the liberty to only focus on one event in our careers – however big and important it may be.’’
The 34-year-old pointed out that the most amazing development is that women’s tennis players have returned to the game after motherhood. “Yes, that is an amazing development and means a lot to me as a woman.’’
Sania cherishes a few memorable moments in her long journey that has seen shine and bring glory to the country in Asian Games, Grand Slams tournaments and Fed Cup tournaments. “There are several moments that I cherish. Winning Wimbledon, being ranked no. 1 in the world, winning medals for India in the Asian Games, Commonwealth and Afro-Asian Games and helping India qualify for the Play-offs of the World Group in Fed Cup are some of the high points of my tennis career.’’
Fed Cup squad announced
New Delhi: Veteran player Sania Mirza and the country’s best singles player Ankita Raina will lead India in the next month’s Billie Jean King Cup World Group Play-offs away tie against Latvia as the AITA named a five-member team on Tuesday for the tournament.
The five-member team also has Karman Kaur Thandi, young Zeel Desai, who is making steady progress, and Rutuja Bhosale.
The All India Tennis Association (AITA) selection committee picked the team after a virtual meeting on Tuesday. Riya Bhatia, who was a playing member last year, will be the reserve player of the team, which will be captained by Vishal Uppal.
The two-day away tie will be played from April 16 on the indoor hard courts at the National Tennis Centre, Lielupe, Jurmala.
India had qualified for the World Group Play-offs for the first time after finishing second in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie, held in Dubai in March 2020 while Latvia lost 2-3 to USA in their group.
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