I’m not a tomboy just because I’m a tennis player: Sania

Sania Mirza burst into our collective consciousness when she turned pro four years ago. In a country starved of female role models her dogged climb on the WTA circuit, unique style and spunky attitude got her the spotlight effortlessly. This year Sania hit her career best ranking of 27, but couldn’t hang on to it for too long. So is this as good as it gets for India’s most successful female tennis player? She sure doesn’t think so.

Anuradha SenGupta: As of August you were number 27 in the world.

Sania Mirza: I don’t follow the rankings, so I don’t know.

Anuradha SenGupta: Does it mean that you are not focused on them, they just happen? You go up and then you go down and we follow it and celebrate when you go up. At least in the media there is a sense that Sania is climbing up the ranking.

Sania Mirza: Yes, I think for tennis players, or for athletes for that matter, ranking is just a number because we judge our performance according to the way we are hitting the ball. At the beginning of the year for example I was somewhere around 70s and everyone was writing me off and said that I am finished and it was all just a fluke. And then suddenly in August I was doing exactly the same things as I was doing in January. My ranking became 28 and suddenly I was all good and perfect for the world again.