The beginning of the end for Sania Mirza

Back in 2005, a teenaged Sania Mirza was creating waves on the Women’s tennis tour. She was notching up important victories over better and higher ranked players like Marion Bartoli and Nadia Petrova. She reached the 4^th round of the US Open where she lost to Sharapova and won her first (and so far only) tournament at the Hyderabad Open.

As she climbed up the rankings ladder, she started to generate a new fan following – particularly among Americans, who just loved her all-or-nothing attitude on court and the stream of hard-hit winners from both flanks from impossible positions.

With fame came fortune, and as the huge amounts started pouring in from endorsements and advertisements, Sania became a style icon among the youth of India – sporting nose rings and tee shirts with messages (provocative by Indian standards!).

Controversies followed, with tennis purists aghast at the time she was spending off court when she should have been working on improving her pathetic serves and lack of fitness and mobility. Her short skirts and ‘daring’ show of skin shocked conservative protectors of Islam. (Ashley Harkleroad may wonder what the fuss was all about!)

Gradually, the high expectations of a billion Indians, off court engagements, assorted controversies and injuries due to lack of fitness and her hit-or-miss style of play began to take their inevitable toll. The problems were compounded by her inability to overcome her obvious technical shortcomings.

Sania did try to improve her serves and worked on her fitness and on court mobility. But her fearsome forehand no longer scared the opposition. Smarter and fitter players were ready to chase down her shots and keep the ball in play with the conviction that Sania would soon lose patience and bang the ball long or into the net.

Cut to the present. A string of first and second round losses in Tier 3 & 4 tournaments. She has not beaten a single player of note recently and has lost to players ranked far below her. From the low 30s, her rank has slipped to the 50s. Before the year is out – she may drop out of the top 100.

For Asian fans of women’s tennis, the new icon is now Zheng Jie who put up such a fabulous show at Wimbledon, knocking off one seed after another, only to be annihilated by Serena in the semis. This is the same Zheng Jie that Sania had beaten in the 2^nd round on her way to her only tournament victory back in 2005.

Sania may have little choice now but to follow in the footsteps of Anna Kournikova and try to become a model/movie star.