Sania has turned a weakness into a weapon

Most people would remember Sania Mirza’s second year on the WTA Tour for the early losses and a sharp drop in the rankings. However, for the 20-year-old and her coterie it was about match winning decisions.

When 2006 drew to an end, leaving Sania at number 66 in the world rankings, criticism rained on her attitude, fitness and decision to do away with a coach. For her father Imran, who doubles up as her coach, it was like pouring water on a duck’s back. He was clear in his mind that it was a fitness trainer that his daughter needed more than a coach. His argument was simple: “She has the shots, what she needs is to be in position quickly enough to hit those shots.”

“Last year, I wasn’t the new kid any more,” Sania said. “Players had figured out my weaknesses. So I had to find new strengths.”

The Olympic motto – faster, higher, stronger – became the broad outlay of her plans. She hired South African fitness trainer Heath Matthews and at the end of the season embarked on a fitness drive that was military in its precision and fashionably wide in range. So much so that she had a workout drawn up for a short break her family had planned to Barbados earlier this year to watch Indian cricket team play in the World Cup. The holiday didn’t materialise as the Men in Blue crashed out early.

The focus was on cardio-vascular fitness, which lent power and strength to the sprint. Being the power player she is, recovery is the key to Sania’s game especially against those resilient backcourters, who seemed to be running circles around her last season. When she hit the Tour in January faster and leaner, the difference was visible as much on the court as of it.

The 5-ft 8? pro continues to weigh 57 kilos, but she is a size smaller, in that she has converted some of the fat into muscle. The results didn’t take long in coming. Sania made two Tour semi-finals in January and February in Hobart and Pattaya, but just when her season seemed to be taking off, she was felled down by a knee injury, which eventually needed surgery, keeping her out of the Tour for three months.

The months away from the Tour became Sania’s defining moments. A little after being wheeled out of a Hyderabad hospital in early March, she hit the plush gymnasium near her home in Banjara hills, resting her knee but working her upper body ragged four hours a day, for two sessions. There were many onlookers as Sania worked out, chief among whom was Hemalatha Dangi, the floor-in-charge at the gymnasium, who watched awe-struck as Sania pushed her mind and body day after day.

“Sania was very frustrated at being away from the game when she thought she was at her best. She wanted to return to the courts as soon as possible and was prepared to put in any amount of work for that,” Imran said. “Sania has always been determined. Once she decides she wants something, she will do everything possible. That is her biggest strength.”

If the fag end of the clay court season allowed her to try her rehabilitated knee in competition, the grass court events helped Sania find her competitive footing. Now, in the American swing of the Tour, she seems to have broken free, racking up a 12-3 win loss record in the singles, with only Russians Anna Chakvetadze and Maria Sharapova enjoying greater success. Her ranking has gone up to an all-time high of 30 and she is once again the talk of the Tour.

“When I first came on the tour, everything happened fast. I am in a better condition now,” Sania said. “Two years ago, I had a forehand and not much else. Now I have a backhand, I have an overhead, I have many shots. I have more strength.”

The big question is, where does she go from here?