Sania Mirza winds up training at Delhi on a positive note

Thursday, 23 October 2008

Sania Mirza was relaxed and confident, as she faced the media after another good training session at the DLTA Complex. She had finished her stint in the Capital with friend Radhika Tulpule, who has graduated from her playing days to be one of the best ITF-qualified coaches in the country. Having seen through the tough phase in her career, when she could not bear watching the U.S. Open on the television, or lift a glass of water, as she had been troubled by a wrist injury that had flared up after surgery, during the Olympics in Beijing, the 21-year-old Sania was understandably composed. “I have been practising for two weeks. It has been great. By God’s grace, the wrist is good. Everything is positive at the moment,” Sania said, as she warmed up for the tougher questions. She was clear not to put a date for her return to the professional tennis circuit, or set an immediate goal in terms of rankings. “At the moment, everything is a bonus for me. I am happy to be healthy. We don’t appreciate it unless we go through injuries. I take it by one day. I don’t even think about tomorrow”, she said in a philosophical tone. “It is no secret that your ranking goes down when you are not playing. I did not care much about the ranking when I was 27 in the world, or 550. As long as you play the game well and you have the confidence, you are going to make it back. I do see the headlines when my ranking goes down to 98 or 99. As players, we don’t sit on a Monday to see where our ranking figures,”  remarked Sania as she had a dig at a section of the media that has been religiously capturing her fall in the ranking ladder. Sania conceded that as a sportsperson, one had to go through such phases when injuries dampen the spirit, and observed that she wanted to see the positive side of it all. “It is weird for me to sleep in the same bed for a month. But, on the positive side, it was great to spend time with family. After a long time, we were all together for Eid. It is great to catch up with friends,” she said, as she compared her current status with her otherwise busy schedule, flying around the world, week after week.

 

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