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Sania Mirza
Sania Mirza (born November 15, 1986, Mumbai and now residing
in Hyderabad) is a professional tennis player from India.
Career
Coached by her father Imran Mirza, Sania, a Muslim, began
playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. "My
mother took me to a coach, who initially refused to coach me because I was
too small," said Mirza, who is 5 ft. 7 in. tall. "After a month,
he called my parents to say he'd never seen a player that good at such a
young age." WTA interview.
She is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from
India - ranked 31 in singles and 109 in doubles by mid-October 2005. Her
original goal had been to enter the top 100 by the end of 2005, but she revised
this to entering the top 50 after good performances at the beginning of the
year. As of October 2005, she also ranked 2nd among Asian women. Her year-end
rank in 2004 was 206.
She became the first Indian woman to reach the 4th round
of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open, defeating Mashona Washington,
Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli. Having secured a wild card entry
to the 2005 Australian Open Mirza reached the third round, losing to eventual
champion Serena Williams.
On February 12, 2005, she became the first Indian woman to
win a WTA singles title defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the Hyderabad
Open Finals.
Sania won the Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title
in 2003, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia.
Accolades
Mirza has earned a large fan following in India as she is
one of the very few young women from that country to have done well at the
highest levels of sport. The media termed the phenomenon Sania Mania. She
reportedly has sponsorships to the tune of U.S. $ 0.35 million per brand
per annum. In 2005, she was awarded the Arjuna award in tennis for the year
2004. She has defeated two top 10 players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia
Petrova.
Watching her performance in Acura Classics, tennis legend
Pancho Segura, Ecuador-born American player who roamed the courts in the
1940s and 50s, felt that Sania's hard-hitting game resembled that of Romanian
tennis legend Ilie Nastase - Segura said that Mirza had a natural way of
hitting the ball and that she hit it hard, like Nastase.
Mirza is also the first Indian sportswoman to feature on
the cover of Time magazine (South Asian edition) and was included in its
2005 list of Asia's 50 heroes.
Wardrobe
Hackles have been raised in some quarters supposedly due
to her attire not being in line with her Muslim background. According to
a Hindustan Times report[1] published September 8, 2005, an unnamed religious
scholar had issued a fatwa, saying that her attire is contrary to what is
permitted by Islam. The Guardian later identified[2] the scholar as Haseeb-ul-hasan
Siddiqui, a leading cleric with the Sunni Ulema Board. The All-India Shia
Muslim Personal Law Board quickly responded with a statement that called
the fatwa "unnecessary and uncalled for". According to the September
10 Hindustan Times report[3], Board Chairman Mirza Mohammad Athar asserted
that "Sania had committed no sin by wearing her choice of dresses on
field," and had asked "clerics not to interfere in matters pertaining
to sports."
When off the court Mirza wears the traditional Salwar Kameez,
a nose ring and several ear rings complete her wardrobe. However, when playing
tennis, her dress is typical of contemporary women tennis players.
Personalised text on her t-shirts have also sometimes attracted
attention. For her post-match conference after the 2nd round of 2005 US Open
her shirt asked "I'm Cute?". Following her loss to Sharapova in
the 4th round she had changed this to "Don't Get in My Way". At
the post-match conference for her 2005 Wimbledon Championships 2nd round
defeat to Svetlana Kuznetsova the writing said: "Well-behaved women
rarely make history". She has responded with exasperation to questions
about her use of her clothing as a billboard.
Career Highlights
2005 Japan Open: reaches the semi-finals of women's singles
and doubles (partnering Shahar Peer of Israel); reaches her highest doubles
ranking of 114.
2005 US Open: reaches 4th round by defeating Marion Bartoli
of France in straight sets (7-6(4), 6-4) before losing to top seed Maria
Sharapova 6-2, 6-1. Voted Best Player of the day on the 3rd day for winning
her 2nd round match despite bleeding toes.
2005 Forest Hills Women's Tennis Classic, New York: reaches
her second WTA final but fails to win
2005 Acura Classic: upsets Nadia Petrova in 2nd round but
loses in the third round to Akiko Morigami of Japan (2-6,6-4,4-6). By beating
the 8th-ranked Petrova, she breaks into top 50 in world rankings for the
first time ever.
2005 Dubai Tennis Championships: Upset reigning US Open Champion
Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2 in 2nd round to reach the quarter-finals
2005 Hyderabad Open singles: Won the tournament defeating
Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the final and became the first
Indian woman to capture a WTA singles title.
2005 Australian Open singles: 3rd round: Became first Indian
woman to reach the 3rd round of a Grand Slam tournament.
2004 Hyderabad Open doubles: Won the tournament (partnering
with Liezel Huber) to become the youngest Indian to win a WTA or ATP tour
title and the first Indian woman to capture a WTA tour title. entered the
singles as wild card but lost in the first round to the eventual winner Nicole
Pratt.
2003 Wimbledon Championships Juniors doubles: Won the tournament
(partnering with Alisa Kleybanova) to become the youngest Indian and the
first Indian woman to win a junior Grand Slam title.
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