India’s Sania Mirza moved up six places in the women’s world rankings list to the 38th spot despite her second round exit from Wimbledon, according to a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) released on Monday. Sania, who lost to Russian Nadia Petrova in the women’s singles event, is also ranked 38th in the doubles. Among the other Indian women, Sunitha Rao moved up a spot to 264th while Shikha Uberoi went down 39 places to languish at 326th. In the men’s section, Indian ace Leander Paes moved up one place to ninth in the doubles rankings while his Czech partner Martin Damm also moved up a spot to eighth.

Indian tennis legend Vijay Amrirtraj, applauding the progress Sania Mirza has made in her play, said she has the potential to make the world’s top-10, if guided properly.

“You can see she is maturing mentally,” Vijay said. “Our players mature mentally first and then physically, unlike the westerners for whom it is the reverse. For our players, their best years are 24 onwards. Look at Rafael Nadal, given the way he plays, I would be surprised if he goes beyond 26 or 27 years of age.”

The former Indian Davis Cup captain, who has worn many hats internationally with his charity work and business commitments, added that he no long considers movement a weakness in Sania’s game. “She has put in a lot of work there.

It is obvious in a match situation,” Vijay said. “She is clearly able to hold her own now. There are a lot of players in the top ten, who are not great athletes — Vaidisova, Petrova, even Sharapova. Sania has made significant strides here.”

“What I would tell her or any of the younger players is to gamble the losses. At the end of your career, nobody remembers if you lost in the second round in Bali, they remember if you won that exciting quarterfinal at Wimbledon or the other majors.”

Vijay urged young players to do whatever it takes, including taking time off from the tour, to correct technical flaws in their game. “I always quote the example of Mats Wilander who in 1987 went off the tour for a while to add the sliced backhand to his double-handed shot. He came back and became the world No 1,” Vijay said.

“You shouldn’t be worrying about results,” the LA-based star said. “The question is are you a better player today than you were yesterday? That is the only question you need to ask yourself.”

“There are a lot of areas in Sania’s game that needs to be worked on,” Vijay said. “The good thing is she has age on her side, she has the desire, the work ethic and an explosive game from the back of the court, if she is guided properly, in my opinion she is definitely a top 10 player. She has the required raw material.”
Indian tennis legend Vijay Amrirtraj, applauding the progress Sania Mirza has made in her play, said she has the potential to make the world’s top-10, if guided properly.

“You can see she is maturing mentally,” Vijay said. “Our players mature mentally first and then physically, unlike the westerners for whom it is the reverse. For our players, their best years are 24 onwards. Look at Rafael Nadal, given the way he plays, I would be surprised if he goes beyond 26 or 27 years of age.”

The former Indian Davis Cup captain, who has worn many hats internationally with his charity work and business commitments, added that he no long considers movement a weakness in Sania’s game. “She has put in a lot of work there.

It is obvious in a match situation,” Vijay said. “She is clearly able to hold her own now. There are a lot of players in the top ten, who are not great athletes — Vaidisova, Petrova, even Sharapova. Sania has made significant strides here.”

“What I would tell her or any of the younger players is to gamble the losses. At the end of your career, nobody remembers if you lost in the second round in Bali, they remember if you won that exciting quarterfinal at Wimbledon or the other majors.”

Vijay urged young players to do whatever it takes, including taking time off from the tour, to correct technical flaws in their game. “I always quote the example of Mats Wilander who in 1987 went off the tour for a while to add the sliced backhand to his double-handed shot. He came back and became the world No 1,” Vijay said.

“You shouldn’t be worrying about results,” the LA-based star said. “The question is are you a better player today than you were yesterday? That is the only question you need to ask yourself.”

“There are a lot of areas in Sania’s game that needs to be worked on,” Vijay said. “The good thing is she has age on her side, she has the desire, the work ethic and an explosive game from the back of the court, if she is guided properly, in my opinion she is definitely a top 10 player. She has the required raw material.”

Sania Mirza would have found life remarkably more straightforward had she been born in an era when women players wore nothing less than an ankle-length dress, bustle, tie, hat and gloves.

But when the Indian goes on court today in a thigh-length skirt – hardly unusual amid a generation of scantily clad players – it can be construed as a message of defiance.

In September 2005 a group of Muslim clerics issued a fatwa demanding that Mirza, a devout Muslim, cover up during matches, and soon after that the then 18-year-old bowed to the pressure and swapped her skirt for shorts. Haseeb-ul-Hasan Siddiqui of the Sunni Ulema Board said her outfits left “nothing to the imagination,” and that “for an entire nation of young Muslim girls she will be a corrupting influence”.

He claimed that her skirts and T-shirts – “Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History” reads one, “I’m Cute, No Shit” another and “You Can Either Agree With Me Or Be Wrong” a third – were “un-Islamic”.

But at this year’s French Open Mirza started wearing a skirt again. “How I dress is a very personal thing, so give me a break,” she said. “I’m just trying to have some fun. If I have something to say I can speak, can’t I? I don’t have to speak through what I wear.”

For most of her compatriots, Mirza is an idol. She was the first Indian woman to break into the top 50 of the WTA Tour rankings, the first to reach the fourth round of a grand slam, the US Open in 2005, and the first to win a tour title, in her home city of Hyderabad, which according to some reports caused a mini-stampede.

Such is the interest in Mirza’s life that she says she often used to find intruders in her house and was forced to employ two guards to man it day and night. The world No44’s image adorns billboards all over India and her endorsement fees match those of the cricketer Rahul Dravid.

“Sania mania” peaked in August 2005 when she destroyed Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-1 in the third round in San Diego. That year Petrova had already reached the French Open semi-finals and the Wimbledon quarters and attained a career-high ranking of world No3. The pair meet again for the first time this afternoon in the second round of a tournament which already has a special place in Mirza’s career.

In 2003 she won the junior doubles title here with Alisa Kleybanova to become the youngest Indian – and first Indian woman – to win a junior grand slam. At that point hardcourts were her favourite surface but after taking the then reigning US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova to three sets on Centre Court in 2005 she realised that her game was best suited to grass.

“This is a very special tournament for me, a great place to come back to,” said Mirza, who beat Yaroslava Shvedova 6-0, 6-3 in the first round on Tuesday. “There are a lot of Indian people here and a lot of support.”

Indian tennis starlet Sania Mirza blasted her way into the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday, easing past Russia’s Yaroslava Shvedova in straight sets.

Mirza, 20, wasted no time on Court 6 as she demolished the 19-year-old Muscovite 6-0, 6-3 in 55 minutes.

However, Mirza was frustrated by her opponent at 5-2 up in the final set, being pegged at deuce before world number 80 Shvedova finally won the game.

And she lost two match points in the final game before finally sealing it as the Russian misfired.

Mirza, who signed autographs for the Indian fans in the crowd as she left, now faces Russian 11th seed Nadia Petrova in the second round.

World number 44 Mirza’s best Wimbledon performance was reaching the second round in 2005, while her best Grand Slam outing was at the US Open in the same year, when she reached the fourth round.

Star Indian tennis player Sania Mirza will start her Wimbledon campaign on a high after she climbed two spots in the WTA singles rankings to No. 44.

Sania, in fact, also improved her individual doubles rankings by two positions to No. 40.

The 20-year-old, though, has had a poor run in the singles circuit since her comeback from an injury lay-off. After losing in the second round of the French Open, she crashed out of the Ordina Open in the first round.

Sania takes on 80th ranked Russian Yaroslava Shvedova in her first round encounter at the All England Club. Shvedova, however, holds an edge over the Indian after having beaten her in their only previous encounter at the WTA Bangalore Open last year.

In the women’s doubles, Sania opens her campaign with Israel’s Shahar Peer, while she teams up with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi in the mixed doubles event.

India’s doubles ace Leander Paes, however, dropped one spot in the individual rankings to No. 9, while Bhupathi, Paes’s former partner, remained a non-mover on No. 20.

Paes will only take part in the doubles edition of the Wimbledon with Czech partner Martin Damm, while Bhupathi will take the doubles court with another Czech, Radek Stepanek.

Indian tennis fans’ much awaited dream combination is all set to happen at last as Sania Mirza will partner Mahesh Bhupathi in the mixed doubles at the Wimbledon starting on Monday.

The duo were expected to come together at the French Open three weeks ago but their combined doubles ranking fell outside the cut-off mark. Bhupathi’s recent improvement since then to 20th place in the ATP computer seems to have helped their case, though.

Sania brushed aside apprehensions about facing Yaroslava Shvedova, who had beaten her on the way to winning the title at Bangalore Open earlier this year, in opening round of women’s singles.

“Not a bad draw considering that this is a Grand Slam,” the 20-year old Indian told.

The Hyderabadi girl has a 1-2 win-loss record on grass this year going into the Grand Slam where she had usually been at her best in previous two years.

“She’s hitting the ball well but lost two very tight matches against two top-30 players, Maria Santangelo and Francesca Schiavone,” Sania’s father Imran Mirza said.

“Coming back to top level play from surgery is never an easy prospect and it takes a while to get back the confidence to win,” he added.

Former ATP Tour player Gabriel Urpi of Spain, who coached Sania at Roland Garros, assisted her at the Ordina Open in Holland last week and would be tutoring her at the Wimbledon as well.

In women’s doubles, Sania will combine with Israeli Sahar Peer.

India’s Sania Mirza faces 19-year-old Yaloslava Shvedova of Russia in the women’s singles first round of the Wimbledon tennis championships beginning here Monday.

Friday’s draw pitted Sania, ranked 46th in the world, against the 80th ranked Russian, who could not get past the opening round in her maiden appearance last year.

Sania, who turns 21 in November, has herself never advanced beyond the second round at Wimbledon in her previous two outings.

In the doubles, Sania partners Shahar Peer of Israel. They face Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden and Lilia Osterloh of the US in the opening round.

Among the men, India’s Leander Paes and Martin Damm of the Czech Republic are seeded fifth in doubles and will face Chris Haggard of South Africa and Marcin Matkowski of Poland in the first round.

Paes, who turned 37 last week, and 34-year-old Damm have had an indifferent Grand Slam season so far this year. The pair lost in the third round of the Australian Open in January and failed to get past the second at the French Open last month.

Mahesh Bhupathi, the other Indian in the men’s doubles competition, is seeded 11 along with Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic. The duo kick off their campaign against Christopher Kas of Germany and Alexander Peya of Austria.

Paes and Bhupathi have been unable to repeat their 1999 performance when they reached the doubles of all four grand slam events, winning the French Open and Wimbledon.

Just a few weeks are left to Wimbledon 2007 tennis tournament, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments of tennis. Indian tennis star Sania Mirza is now working hard ahead of this grass court tournament in order to get back her form. This Indian tennis super star has experienced an early 2nd round exit from the recently concluded French Open 2007.
For the last one year, Sania has been suffering a lot due to a knee ligament injury that led her out of the court for most of the season. However, Sania came back to court and started this year with some impressive performances.
Anyway, Sania Mirza is still confident to do well in the coming Wimbledon and to regain her form. She is now working hard.