18-year-old Hyderabadi Sania Mirza beat her Australian Open opponent yesterday to become the first Indian woman to make the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. She won her first round 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 against Aussie Cindy Watson and her second round 6-2, 6-1 in an upset against Petra Mandula of Hungary.
The best performance by an Indian woman on the Grand Slam so far had been a second round appearance, by Nirupama Sanjeev… in the 1998 edition of the Australian Open… this is the first time any Indian had progressed this far in a grand slam since Leander Paes made it to the round of 32 at the US Open in 1998…
That’s the good news. The bad news is that she’s about to be fed to the wolves: her Friday matchup is against Serena ‘100 mph’ Williams.
In the tennis world, if you can read this, you’re already too late. Mirza started early:
“The coach at the club in Hyderabad was reluctant but after a month he went back to my parents and said he had never seen a six-year-old hit the ball so well…”
But she seems to lack a bit of self-confidence:
Most women players, especially from Europe and America, are tall and very strongly built… Sania looks fragile in comparison. When asked whether she could match the power play of Venus and Serena Williams, she says, “I am not awestruck. Undoubtedly, we Indians have a distinct disadvantage in that we are not built that way. I will have to work harder to win against them.”
The height issue is real, but the muscle concern is hogwash. It’s more about strength than about being ripped; they’re related but not identical.
Mirza entered the Australian Open as a wildcard. The last desi to hit one of the Williams sisters was Shikha Uberoi at last year’s U.S. Open. She walked out in front of the Transit of Venus with predictable results.
Update: We do not know how to get in touch with Mirza. Chances are pretty high that she doesn’t read this site.
The height issue is real, but the muscle concern is hogwash. It’s more about strength than about being ripped; they’re related but not identical.
It’s also about mental toughness- Serena Williams can be lacking in that area. Unfortunately, that also means that lacking confidence could be a big problem for Mirza. Still, I love a good David v. Goliath standoff!
Sonya Jeyaseelan, A South-Asian Canadian actually made an appearance on the third round in Wimbledon. She’s did resonably well during the 1999-2001 seasons… seems to have lost her touch as of late.
Thanks. Says here Jeyaseelan upset Venus Williams in ’99, but had brain surgery in ’01 and never jumped back in full-time.
assalamualaikkum. hi sania,
iam ur fan.i donot miss to see ur match.congradulation for ur performmance.i read ur articles in kumudham and anandavigadan. u r very smart.iam from tamil nadu and doing my prefinal year in engg.i want ur friendship,please mail me.
“The sucess of both worlds is only in islam”.
do namas daily may allah will be always with u.
khudha hafis.
abdul khader.J-B.E.
hi sania i m rajdeep main aapke har match dekhta hoon aur apki is kamyabi ke liye aaapko dher……………..sari badhai deta hoon.
hi sania how r u i have seen u playing u r playing good but not the best i think u need lots of practice i have seen ur match with serena ur owesome but what i think that u have lost the match just because lack of confidence i wish u best of luck for ur next match and pray for allah for ur sucess and also i want that after reading this u mail me plzzzzzzzzzz
salams sania, Congratulations!!! really wanna see you take the grandslam someday….
per yar… thoda diet ka khayal rukh… suchii you are getting fatty na…. hey no offense. 🙂
may ALLAH help you all way to grandslams.
Godspeed to sania. Godluck!