Exclusive Interview with Sania Mirza

For Sania Mirza, 2011 has been a fairly good year. The Indian climbed from no. 160 in the singles rankings to the top 100 and also reached the top 10 in doubles, making the semi-finals of Wimbledon and the finals of the French Open with Russian Elena Vesnina. Sportskeeda.com caught up with Sania as she was training in Mumbai during the off-season to speak to her about the recovery from her knee surgery and her plans for the 2012 season, among other things.

How is the recovery from the knee surgery going and are you pain-free these days?

It’s been going good. Its been about 8 weeks now and I’m recovering well. You know sometimes there is some swelling but I’m getting better. I’m taking all the precautions that I need to be taking. It’s improved a lot better than what the doctors had thought. I have a couple of weeks before my I play my first tournament and hopefully I should be a lot stronger by then.

You’ve had several serious injuries over the past few years. That must’ve very frustrating for you as an athlete to have several starts and stops in your career..

You know today tennis is a sport where injury has become a part of our life. I’ve been unfortunate to have three major surgeries before I was 25, but there are a lot of players who are injured all the time. But that’s how much work is required of our bodies. It is frustrating but that’s something every athlete has to deal with. We have to try to manage it as well as possible; try to come out strong and try to avoid having the major injuries. My injuries were all accidents, kind of, so there’s nothing you can do about that. So yes basically it is frustrating but you just have to accept it.

What is your next immediate goal in tennis?

My immediate goal is obviously to be as healthy as possible for the Olympics and obviously have a full year of good health. I had an almost full season and then I hurt my knee at the end of the year. I’d like to have a full season hopefully without any major injuries.

Are there any technical aspects or specific areas of your game that you have been working on in the off-season?

Yes there are some things. I am trying to make my defense better; trying to incorporate that a little bit with offense because the courts have become a lot slower than before and the balls have become heavier. It’s very difficult to hit outright clean winners. You need to build up every point. Physically you need to be prepared to work really hard. Already coming back from knee surgery, I was doing 5 hours of rehab. More importantly, you need to be physically a lot stronger in today’s tennis than you needed to be ten years ago maybe.

Have you finalized your mixed doubles partner for the Australian Open?

No, we’re not sure yet. We’re still talking and whenever we know we shall let everyone know as well.

Are you considering participating in the women’s doubles at the Olympics next year if that’s possible?

I don’t know yet. 8 months is a long time in a tennis player’s life. A lot happens. We’ll just have to wait and see. In tennis, it’s not like you get a direct entry like you do in other sports. We have to play the tour to get to play there. So let’s see how it goes.

Do you see yourself staying involved with the sport after you quit? – coaching, academy, or commentating maybe?

Yes. I mean I can’t see myself away from the sport because it’s something that I’ve done all my life. And it’s something I love and it’s my passion. So definitely yes. There could be a few things. Having an academy, even commentary for that matter. I haven’t actually thought about it very specifically to be honest. But all the doors are open.

What happens when a famous tennis star and a famous cricket star stay under the same roof?

(Laughing) Nothing happens. It’s nice in a way sometimes you know because him playing at the highest level in his sport and me playing at the highest level in my sport, there’s a lot of things that are understood and that don’t really need to be explained. If we have a bad day at the office, we know we shouldn’t be talking to each other. It’s stuff like that. Small things matter. But otherwise it’s good. We understand each others lives and we’ve, kind of, lived each others lives separately. So it’s actually very nice and very relaxed. When we’re both off, we both like doing the same things. And when we’re training, the focus in completely on that.

Has marriage changed your attitude or perspective in any way towards your profession?

No, not on my profession. Maybe its changed me a little bit as a person but not really towards my profession.

It has been more than seven years since you broke through on the international circuit. We haven’t seen any other Indian woman in the top 500 also. Do you have any thoughts on why that’s so?

Honestly I don’t know why. I wish I did because if I knew why then I could try to do something about it. I actually don’t know. It’s very sad. Today, the opportunities are a lot more. There is much better infrastructure. Tennis is more recognized now than when I came on the tour and when I started playing. There’s a lot more things that the young aspiring tennis players have today. So I don’t know. It could be a lot of things. It takes a lot to be a professional tennis player. But I can’t pinpoint on any one thing. I really hope we find a way to break that barrier and try to have another player doing well on the tour as well.

Any young Indian junior girls that you have seen that you feel has a lot of potential?

I was in Delhi when I started coming back now. There was a Fed Cup camp going on which I was in. I was there for about six days. There were a lot of young girls which I hadn’t seen before. But young as in they were 16, 17, 18 years old which is not that young when it comes to tennis. They were all hitting the ball very well. They were trying and they were working very hard. They’re doing the right thing. It’s just about waiting for the next step to happen whenever it does happen. There was a girl, I think she was 15 years old. Her name is Vaishnavi who I thought was hitting the ball really well. But they need match practice. Not try to ‘practice’ for 8 hours a day. But try to play as many matches as possible. That’s what will help them in the long run.

Saina Nehwal is top 5 in badminton, Dipika Paliwal is top 20 in squash – yet Sania Mirza remains by far the most recognized and famous sportswoman in India? Why do you think that is so?

I don’t know. I actually don’t look at it that way. Obviously, as you know, tennis is a very global sport. Over 200 countries play the sport. Tennis is played on a very large scale. It’s played in 3 to 4 different continents. There are thousands of people who play the sport. That could be one of the reasons. To have women sportsperson like this coming out from India is a very good thing. The perception of women’s sports changes with it. Whether it’s tennis, badminton, shooting or squash, it really helps. Whatever positive we can take out of it, I think we should. The only reason I can think of is that tennis is a more global and recognized sport.

It has been recently reported that you are writing your autobiography. What was the motivation behind doing so?

Well I think I’ve had a long journey. I’ve been through a lot on and off the court. There’s not been many times that my side of the story has been told. Even when I was asked a lot of things, it was always portrayed in their opinion.

It’s not just about the problems. It’s about everything. From how I started to play tennis to the end. So yes, I’ quite excited about it.

Is there a tentative release date for the book?

No not really. We’re still writing it so there is no specific date yet.

If a movie was to be made on your autobiography, which of the current actors would you like to see play you and Shoaib’s role?

I don’t think I would allow anyone to make a movie on it (smiling).