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Fitness key to Sania's success
She wants to break into the top 50 this year, but that depends on how fast her ankle heals. In pics
Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza's quarter-final victory over Tzipora Obziler of Israel on Thursday at the Hyderabad Open may just be a beginning of an interesting year for her.
She earlier trounced fourth-seeded Jie Zheng of China. By defeating Zheng, the 18-year-old Mirza proved that her third round encounter with Serena Williams at the Australian Open was not merely a case of a flash-in-a-pan.
The next few steps for Sania promise to be the most difficult, for the youngster is saddled with injuries that are already proving to be serious in nature. Despite her victory over Obziler 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in a pulsating quarter-final duel on Thursday, her success will depend a lot on how she tackles an ankle injury that she has been nursing since Australian Open.
After playing the match of her life against Serena at Melbourne, Sania revealed she was playing with an ankle injury and was on painkillers throughout the tournament. She had to skip the Thailand Open (WTA circuit tournament) because of the same injury.
Post-Melbourne, Sania has reset her goals and wants to break into the top fifty by the end of the year. But, to do so she has to achieve a healthy physical standard which could further enhance her focus and mental strength. She also needs to firm up her serve and stamina without which the going can get tough when the contest gets stretched to the third set.
Sania is not alone in the world of injured stars. The gruelling seasons have already forced top players like Justine Henin-Hardenne, Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis to be laid off.
Some, however, may argue that Sania has been injury-ridden for the past several months. Her fitness problems were evident during the 2004 Afro-Asian Games when she defeated Rushmi Chakrabarti while tending to a sore back and wrist.
Sania has already started working towards achieving a higher fitness standard to take on bigger, better and more powerful players in future. She is currently undergoing intensive physiotherapy to do away with the injuries and is also planning to attend the Bob Brett Tennis Clinic in Italy after the Hyderabad Open.
Sania's keenness to improve her fitness also led her to have a session with former Indian cricket team's physiotherapist Andrew Leipus in January who tended to her injured ankle. And to add to all these preparations for the professional circuit, she is also planning to attend fitness training programmes that could strengthen her base to match her European counterparts.
With the Andhra Pradesh Government and Bhupathis' Globosport going all out to help her, Sania is left to pursue what she is good at — playing tennis, without worrying about the nitty-gritty of getting where she wants to.
Her quality of play has vastly improved in the last year with some quality coaching from Bob Brett, former coach of Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic. Training under Indian tennis star Mahesh Bhupati and guidance from former national champion Vasudev Reddy in Hyderabad can only enhance her skills and make her performance better in the tennis circuit.
