Groeneveld is Sania's new coach

Saturday, 15 March 2008

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza has hired the services of top tennis coach Sven Groeneveld, who is also coaching the world number two Serbian Ana Ivanovic. The 21-year-old, presently in Indian Wells where she’s playing the elite $2,100,000 Tier I tournament, started working with the Dutchman earlier this week. Groeneveld, who has almost two decades of international coaching experience behind him, has worked with Mary Pierce, Michael Stich, Greg Rusedski and Nicolas Kiefer among others in the past. He’ll work with Sania for 15 weeks during the course of the year. Groeneveld will coach the Hyderabadi during Grand Slams and Tier I tournaments. He will work in tandem with her father Imran, who will manage her coaching full-time for the rest of the season. "I’ve been fortunate to benefit from the skills of other top-notch coaches like Tony Roche, Bob Brett, Gabriel Urpi and John Farrington," Sania told.  "I’m confident that Sven will add another dimension to my game. Of course, my dad will continue to be with me to ensure the continuity in my development as he obviously understands my game and temperament better than anyone." Sania, who travels with former WTA Tour physio Renuka Pinto, has been on the lookout for a coach in the new season. Last year, she worked in part with former pro Gabriel Urpi. Imran, who has coached and travelled with his daughter for the most part of the last three years, said: "I’ve known Sven for a few years now. Two years ago, he had mentioned that Sania had the best pair of hands in women’s tennis ever. He felt he could be of help in her development, but at that time Sania was working with Bob Brett. I’ve been talking with Sven for a while now and we’ll see how this goes from here." Imran added: "Groeneveld is a vastly experienced coach, who has worked with the likes of Sharapova and Ivanovic. However, each player is an individual and that is something Sven understands."

 

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