Sania looks to new year with hope

Wednesday, 02 January 2008

The new year has an old smell and it is that familiar scent called confidence. Everyone carries it, in tiny fists and pristine gym bags, certain in their hearts this will be their year. When the calendar turns in tennis, it is like starting over. By summer some muscles will complain, some forehands misfire, but for now, January, everyone is entitled to hope. The new season is a time of new balls, new clothes, new bodies, but most of all new beginnings. Sania Mirza, whose 2007 was arrested by injury, says from her hotel room in Perth: “In the new year, you think better things will come". In locker rooms, players will examine each other, look for an enhanced bicep, a leaner look. As Sania says: “Everyone comes back from training and it is an exciting feeling to see what the other person has.” Everyone comments, she says, on how the next girl is looking, “who is ripped, who has lost weight”. Of course, the cut of clothes is noted, too, or as she squeals in delight: “At the end of the day, we are girls.” On court, changes are subtler, but players and entourages soon pick up alterations. “No one changes drastically”, explains Sania, “but it is the little things that can be different. They can be a little quicker, more consistent, using a slice more often.” Once recognised, it must be countered. For a few weeks players hibernate, nursing exhausted minds and wounded bodies. “At the end of the year you don’t feel like looking at your rackets”, says Sania. Where do you put them? “In a room where I don’t go a lot”, she laughs. Players shake sponsors’ hands, loll in the sun, play charity matches. Then, the rackets call from that other room.

 

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