Tennis review: Hurricane Sania swept fans off feet in 2005

Undated: She wooed the west with her nonchalant aggression, won admirers for her forehand, irked clerics with her outfit but most importantly, she cracked the top league and the year 2005 saw charismatic Sania Mirza’s meteoric rise in the tennis horizon.

Eminent Hyderabadis Mohammed Azharduddin and VVS Laxman have been known for the supple wrists and lazy elegance. But as if to break the convention, here is a 19-year-old lass who whacks the ball so hard and has a awesome forehand that is compared with her idol Steffi Graff’s.

Beginning the year well outside 200, Sania’s scintillating displays saw her leapfrogging to the top 50 before eventually climbing a career best 31st rankings.

The eventful year saw her treading many an uncharted territories. She beat two top 10 players — Svetlana Kuznetsova (Dubai Open) and Nadia Petrova (San Diego), became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open besides winning her maiden WTA title at her home town.

The success spawned a swelling legion of admirers and a new phenomenon — Sania Mania — gripped the tennis world. In a star-starved nation, Sania’s exploits created media hype and she backed it with performance. A huge draw at wherever she went, tournament organisers in places like Dubai and Pakistan virtually begged for her participation.

Every shot she played was closely followed and scrutinised. Her erratic serve and inconsistency are discussed with the same passion as the cricket crazy nation discusses Sourav Ganguly’s vulnerability against short-pitch delivery or a Yuvraj Singh’s helplessness against Muttiah Muralitharan.

Off the field too, Sania remained in the news throughout the year. Her nose ring, specs and provocative T-shirts were as much in the news as her forehand. The tennis sensation, whose T-shirt read ”Well-behaved women rarely make history” at Wimbledon, earned the wrath of clerics who were appalled by her outfit, which they felt reportedly left nothing to imagination. Even a fatwa was issued against her.

”You can either agree with me, or be wrong” said her T-shirt at US Open and Sania was in trouble again for her view that pre-marital sex can’t be curbed but people should play it safe.

She might have ruffled feathers at home but the West clearly did not have enough of her. Lotto launched her signature collection of sportswear in India. It was not all glitz and glamour only. Sania was listed as one of the 10 people capable of changing the world by London’s intellectual weekly ‘New Statesman’ and she also adorned the Time Asia Cover.

A lower back pain keeping her out of action towards the end, Sania decided to finetune her serve and return under legendary coach Tony Roche and once she regains her fitness and mends her serve, Sania would return to the court for greater glory next year.