Sania Mirza - My Indian of the year 2005
From last few days NDTV is conducting a poll for Indian of the year 2005. They have around 13 candidates shortlisted. 4 of them are politicians, 4 are from corporate world and 2 are from bollywood. Only 3 persons are from sport field!!
My choice (without any confusion at all) is of course from the sport category, and as you have guessed it from the title of this post->Sania Mirza! Some may go with Sachin for his 35th century in Tests or with Rahul for his consistent performance for India, but these things we already expected from them. We always knew Sachin is going to achieve that some day and Rahul is a wall as always. The thing we didn't expect was somebody playing Tennis!
Profile:
Birth Date: 15 Nov 1986
Birth Place: Mumbai, India
Residence: Hydrabad, India
Nationality: INDIA
Height: 5'7 1/2" (1.53m)
Weight: 130 lbs. (59kg)
Plays: Right Handed (Double Handed Backhand)
favorite Surface: Hard
Coach: C.G.K. Bhupathi
Age Began Tennis: 6
Personal Interests: Swimming, Music
Other Information: Ambition in tennis: To be in the Top 20 of the World.
favorite player: Steffi Graf
A small girl from Hyderabad's middle class family has achieved something that no Indian has been able to even come close to. This record holds from the day a sport called Tennis has started. She won a WTA singles title!!!
Sania was some 250+ ranked player 2 years ago and in 2005 she has improved her WTA ranking to 34!!! Yes it seems like a dream run, and it has been a dream run. I noticed her first in the Australian open (as everybody else did), and couldn't stop noticing her in the following slams & other tournaments. The pinnacle came when she became the first Indian to win the WTA singles title at her own hometown (h'bad), in front of her own crowd!
Sania has taken Indian tennis to a completely new level. The Indian tennis players have suddenly got a boost with Sania's performance at the highest level, her determination and ability to compete with the best in the business. Every tennis player in India has now start believing in his/her abilities! And I'm sure the situation is only going to improve here onwards.
With achievement comes criticism, and that too in country line India (who doesn't even forgive a small mistake done by greats like Sachin Tendulkar), where the media is evolving day by day. Some say she is too weak at her serve, some say she can't fight at the crucial points, bla bla bla.
Yes we all know she has some missing points in her game but just imagine her age (18 yrs) and the kind of temperament she has shown when facing players like Serena Willams, Maria Sharapova, svetlana kuznetsova. So as for the India tennis, here onwards things are only going to improve for Sania too.
Will Sania achieve the kind of success her idol achieved? We don't know the answer to this question, but surely I want to see her win a grand slam event, this year or the next or the next or ...
One major point I want to highlight here is the kind of support (financial) Sania received from the AP government when she wasn't even recognized by anyone. That truly shows the change in attitude of governments towards promoting sports as a career for younger generation.
Now for any Indian, who wants to be a sportsman/sportswoman cricket is not the only choice!!!
Sania has introduced a new hope, Hope of Playing Tennis!!
My choice (without any confusion at all) is of course from the sport category, and as you have guessed it from the title of this post->Sania Mirza! Some may go with Sachin for his 35th century in Tests or with Rahul for his consistent performance for India, but these things we already expected from them. We always knew Sachin is going to achieve that some day and Rahul is a wall as always. The thing we didn't expect was somebody playing Tennis!
Profile:
Birth Date: 15 Nov 1986Birth Place: Mumbai, India
Residence: Hydrabad, India
Nationality: INDIA
Height: 5'7 1/2" (1.53m)
Weight: 130 lbs. (59kg)
Plays: Right Handed (Double Handed Backhand)
favorite Surface: Hard
Coach: C.G.K. Bhupathi
Age Began Tennis: 6
Personal Interests: Swimming, Music
Other Information: Ambition in tennis: To be in the Top 20 of the World.
favorite player: Steffi Graf
A small girl from Hyderabad's middle class family has achieved something that no Indian has been able to even come close to. This record holds from the day a sport called Tennis has started. She won a WTA singles title!!!
Sania was some 250+ ranked player 2 years ago and in 2005 she has improved her WTA ranking to 34!!! Yes it seems like a dream run, and it has been a dream run. I noticed her first in the Australian open (as everybody else did), and couldn't stop noticing her in the following slams & other tournaments. The pinnacle came when she became the first Indian to win the WTA singles title at her own hometown (h'bad), in front of her own crowd!Sania has taken Indian tennis to a completely new level. The Indian tennis players have suddenly got a boost with Sania's performance at the highest level, her determination and ability to compete with the best in the business. Every tennis player in India has now start believing in his/her abilities! And I'm sure the situation is only going to improve here onwards.
With achievement comes criticism, and that too in country line India (who doesn't even forgive a small mistake done by greats like Sachin Tendulkar), where the media is evolving day by day. Some say she is too weak at her serve, some say she can't fight at the crucial points, bla bla bla.
Yes we all know she has some missing points in her game but just imagine her age (18 yrs) and the kind of temperament she has shown when facing players like Serena Willams, Maria Sharapova, svetlana kuznetsova. So as for the India tennis, here onwards things are only going to improve for Sania too.Will Sania achieve the kind of success her idol achieved? We don't know the answer to this question, but surely I want to see her win a grand slam event, this year or the next or the next or ...
One major point I want to highlight here is the kind of support (financial) Sania received from the AP government when she wasn't even recognized by anyone. That truly shows the change in attitude of governments towards promoting sports as a career for younger generation.
Now for any Indian, who wants to be a sportsman/sportswoman cricket is not the only choice!!!
Sania has introduced a new hope, Hope of Playing Tennis!!
posted by Sandeep Shinde at 12:35 PM
3 Comments:
u r right buddy...
Sania has really done India proud in tennis, no doubt. But, I think she is also a victim of too much success too soon (or rather too much media hype over her initial success). On top of that, she has been given the Padma Shri - one of the highest awards in India that is given usually for lifetime achievements not to early stage athletes. Taking this fact plus her poor recent run (crashing out in the first round at Wimbledom for example) doesn't go too well with the Award she has been given in earnest.
Sania has really done India proud in tennis, no doubt. But, I think she is also a victim of too much success too soon (or rather too much media hype over her initial success). On top of that, she has been given the Padma Shri - one of the highest awards in India that is given usually for lifetime achievements not to early stage athletes. Taking this fact plus her poor recent run (crashing out in the first round at Wimbledom for example) doesn't go too well with the Award she has been given in earnest.
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