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| First Indian to win a ladies Grand slam doubles title. |
There is an air of history and nostalgia when you talk about
Wimbledon. More than any other sporting place, this venue values tradition; remembers
its past champions and one way or the other welcomes them back into its serene
surroundings. Martina Hingis is a name for the tennis historians and
irrespective of her retirement at a young age, she was welcomed back to a place
where she started winning Grand slam titles. For Hingis, these seventeen years
has been a lifetime's wait.
Life has come a full circle for Hingis after the victory in
women's doubles. From being the youngest grand slam winner (Wimbledon doubles
1996), in which she flourished under the
guidance of the more experienced Helena Sukova; this time around she was the
one who called the shots, guided Sania Mirza and together they played their
best tennis in recent times.
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis have been undoubtedly the
best lady players to represent their respective countries, India and Switzerland.
They reached the peak very early in their lives, then hit a plateau............
- and now together they are on an adventure to climb yet another peak. There is
a lot that's in common between these two; though they have different playing
styles. They complete each other's weakness on the court and in tandem, they
have been refreshing on the doubles circuit.
In Martina Hingis, Sania Mirza has finally found a doubles
partner with whom she can complement her partner's finesse and thought process.
When they got together to play doubles, I felt there was something right about
this combination and I am more so convinced now after looking at the way they fought
back in those final two sets. They are enjoying their tennis.
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| A pair destined for many more victories |
INDIA'S LONG WAIT FOR FAME
Twelve years ago, Sania, a child prodigy won the girls doubles
event at Wimbledon. Since the time she turned professional, she has been living
a life burdened with expectations. India is a country where people have a lot of
hopes, where expectations come from all corners of the land and we all saw a dream,
the dream of Sania lifting a Grand slam title.
Playing singles proved to be a tough battle ground; her
power play and return was good to finish off few opponents - but her lack of
pace to move around the court and her inability to pick the right spots to
place the ball did not help her cause when she faced the top ranked players.
In spite of these weaknesses, she did progress consistently
beyond first round and her best singles display at a major slam came a decade
ago in New York. A fourth round appearance at the US Open facing Maria
Sharapova. At that point, she had achieved enough (including a WTA singles
title) to rest on her laurels as no other Indian female tennis player had come
this far.
In fact, in the open era, there has never been a lady from
Indian tennis who has won this consistently in singles - barring Nirupama
Sanjeev (previously Vaidyanathan) who was the first Indian woman to win a round
in a grand slam event (1998 Australian Open) and Shikha Uberoi who emulated
that feat later at the 2004 US Open. The days of celebrating 'round' wins were long
gone ever since Sania Mirza turned professional. Within a short span of time,
she took the nation's expectations to another level - a place never seen before
among Indian women tennis.
SINGLES TO DOUBLES
Being among the top 30 ranked women happens to be the
highlight of Sania's singles career (with highest ranking of 27). However, her success was not just limited
to singles; steadily she took part in many of the doubles tournament with some
success. After 2007, her play was more consistent on the doubles circuit than
on the singles. An athlete is never far away from getting injured and Sania's tryst
with injuries started to dictate her choices and since 2008 she withdrew from
many tournaments owing to discomfort in her back and right wrist.
Playing singles became more challenging, exasperating and
after a string of poor performances, focussing solely on the doubles game
seemed practical. Having a partner in a game was less stressful physically and with
only half-a-court to cover, it suited her style of play. Since 2011, her
success rate in many of the WTA competitions was on the upward trend. In these
four years, she took part in 29 finals and won 18 of them - all of this
contributed in her being ranked number one doubles player earlier this year.
INDIANS PLAY DOUBLES BETTER
Why do Indians play better doubles game than singles? Looking
at the history of Indian tennis, there has been a strong 'tennis doubles'
culture barring few sporadic, spirited individual displays. In the last sixty
years, there has been junior players winning the Grand Slam title, but no one
went a step further and win the seniors. The best singles performance in the
recent past happens to be the bronze medal win of Paes at the 1996 Atlanta
Olympics.
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| Bronze Medal in singles at 1996 Atlanta Olympics |
The first Grand slam title of any kind for India came in
1997 and it was Mahesh Bhupathi-Rika Hiraki pair who won the mixed doubles at
the French Open. Since then, there has been a series of Grand Slam titles in
doubles category - men's and mixed. Now, with the recent Wimbledon victory, Sania
Mirza completed this 'doubles set' by winning the ladies doubles.
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| Mahesh Bhupathi started the trend of winning Grand Slam titles for India in doubles - French Open 1997 |
THE TRENDSETTER
In a country which is obsessed with end results, Sania Mirza
has had to endure a lot of unwanted attention at times to get to a position she
is right now. Forget the facilities, forget the funding and forget the support
for a moment, what Sania has achieved speaks volumes about her innate qualities;
her determination; her grit; motivation and the will of a world-class athlete. To
these, add family support, facilities, funding and opportunities; results will
definitely follow. This is how winning is done.
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| First Indian woman to achieve number one ranking in doubles |
What does this victory mean to Sania Mirza and to Indian
tennis? Firstly, she is the top-ranked doubles player in the world and if you
ain't winning, then you can forget being at the top. Sania, quite rightly
expects to win every tournament she takes part in and sadly it isn't the same
for other ladies in Indian tennis. While there are talented girls who sweat it
out each day, it would help a great deal if they asked a question each day
- why am I sweating it out? In this era
of intense connectivity, one can always find a way to secure sponsors, train at
better facilities - but why? If that 'why' and 'what' is clear, then 'how' will
become clear. Sania Mirza's ascent to the top in spite of the adversities she
faced with injuries and personal scrutiny is an example, a template for an
Indian female athlete who wishes to achieve big and not just stop at dreaming.
In 1998, the top seeded pair of Martina Hingis and Jana
Novotna won the ladies doubles title and seventeen years later, the top seeded
pair of Hingis and Mirza won the honours on the same court. In between, Martina
Hingis has had a roller coaster ride when it comes to her tennis career and
personal life. While it can be said, it is just another step forward in what
has been an illustrious career for the Swiss Miss, this Wimbledon victory with Sania Mirza (first for an Indian woman in ladies doubles) is a giant leap for Indian tennis.
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