How did Indians fare in 2013 - Part 2

2. SANIA MIRZA- ALWAYS THE GOLDEN GIRL

Sania Mirza and Cara Black

Sania Mirza started the year with a bang, winning the first Premier tournament of the year at Brisbane with Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Joy escalated and so did expectations. After opening their year with a title, they failed to post a win in the year’s first Grand Slam. This disappointment was soon allayed by their second title at Dubai and a runner-up finish at Stuttgart, both Premier level tournaments. The next slam saw them retiring in the third set during their third round match. Apparently Mattek-Sands had injured herself and decided to play just singles for the rest of the year.

This made Sania pair up with Liezel Huber during the Wimbledon Championships and a preceding tournament. They had earlier won titles together during the nascent stages of Sania’s career. Their partnership, however, did not succeed this time. They fell in the third round of The Championships. This was followed by her partnering China’s Zheng Jie. They won a Premier level tournament just prior to the US Open, Sania’s third in the year. Every time she won a tournament before a Grand Slam, she has failed to succeed at the Slam. This again made fans a little uncomfortable. Yet, the Indo-Chinese pair reached the semifinals of the US Open, Sania’s first. It seemed as though Sania had found the right partner and that their chemistry worked even better than that of Mirza and Mattek-Sands.

But, she dismissed such notions with her performances towards the end of the season. Sania paired up with veteran Cara Black for the Toray Pacific Premier 5 tournament in Tokyo. It was their first ever together. Yet, their results seemed to disagree. They notched wins over higher ranked pairs and won the tournament. This was then followed by another fine run at the Beijing Premier Mandatory event where, again, they emerged victors. Even after their first title, they were dubbed as the next big thing in Women’s Doubles by many. Their second title, with a win over world no.1 pair Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in the semifinals substantiated the guess of many.

This has also been the most successful year for Sania with 5 titles and a career-high year end ranking of 9. She also finished the year ranked 12th, 14th, and 17th with Mattek-Sands, Jie and Black respectively.

Luckily for Sania, she has at last found a full time doubles partner and a partner who compliments her game in every aspect on court. Her game is now getting better by the day with waxing injuries and Black brings with her oodles of experience and a handful of slams. It has also been announced that Cara Black will be flying to India in December to practice with her new partner. If their initial success is anything to go by, a highly entertaining year is what Indian fans can look forward to. With her renewed form, higher confidence and an excellent partner, her dream of laying her hands on a few more slams, especially in Women’s Doubles, will likely come true.

After a decent first half, her game seemed to raise to come up with wonderful performances. She seems to have gained her normal game. With Cara Black, she can finally win a slam. Yes, she has finally risen with a top 10 finish to the year, a good partner and an improving game.

1. PAES SLAMS AGE

Leander Paes celebrates after his US Open triumph

After spending more than two decades as a professional tennis player and reaching the age of 40, Leander has proven that he still has the fire to win a slam. With the fire still glowing, he is surely not done with tennis. His on court performances have accentuated this for sometime now and further substantiating them were his verbal assurances that he would play at 41, 42, 43…… and his desire to play at Rio in 2016.

Though he has his differences with some of his compatriots, his performances during the initial stages of the year were in no way better than theirs. After Regular partner Radek Stepanek stopped playing owing to injuries, he found the going hard. He played with Jurgen Melzer, Michael Llodra and others. Yet, his performances were very mediocre.

Starting with their reunion just before Wimbledon, Paes and Stepanek started playing well together. They made it to the semifinals of Wimbledon.

Just before the US Open, Paes and Nestor won the ATP 250 title at Winston-Salem. This was Paes’ first title of the year.The very next week, he teamed up with Stepanek to win the US Open title. It was no ordinary win. They defeated the top seeded Bryan brothers in the semifinals. The twins were aiming to win all the four slams in the same year. But, the Indo-Czech duo put an end to their dream run. What ensued is just history. At 40, Leander Paes became the oldest male player to win a Grand Slam. Though they succeeded in recreating their magic, they did not play together for the rest of the year till the World Tour Finals.

Paes played at Malaysia with Italian Daniele Bracciali and the subsequent tournaments again with Daniel Nestor. Stepanek started concentrating more on singles tournaments during this period and it raises a question whether they will be playing together next year.

Though he has enjoyed success with Nestor and they seemed to be gearing up for a full time partnership next season, Nestor is reported to have agreed to joining forces with Nenad Zimonjic. Paes has not made any announcement uptil now regarding his partner for the next year though it might continue to be Radek Stepanek.