Dubai : "It's tough being a sportsperson in India, it doesn't matter whether you are male or female."
Those words, in a nutshell, sum up Indian tennis's pin-up girl Sania Mirza's relationship with her country of birth.
And despite having lost in the first round of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship, Mirza spoke exclusively to XPRESS about controversies, tennis and her goals ahead.
Back in 2008, a series of events which included criticism over her clothes by fundamentalist groups, shooting for an ad campaign inside mosque premises and allegedly showing disrespect to the national flag, forced her to announce she would not play in any home tournament starting with the Bangalore Open in March, 2008.
But Mirza countered that she had been misquoted all this time.
"I have been crying hoarse telling anyone who wants to listen that all I meant was I didn't want to play in that tournament, as I wanted out of the media glare. But they splashed it all across that I didn't want to play in any tournament ever," she said. "Such are the problems a sportsperson has to face back home. The media, the fans and the general public's expectations can get too much at times."
Mirza, who herself had a broken engagement to contend with recently, believes, but for injury, she would have been ranked higher than her peak of world No 27. "When I got injured in 2007, I almost considered quitting, so depressed was I during that period. I think I was blessed just to be back on the court the following year," she said.
Given that she won her first Grand Slam title, the 2009 Australian Open mixed doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi, you'd think that would be the highlight of her career, but not according to her.
"I think the highlight of my career has been reaching No 27 in singles and No 18 in doubles, besides being in the top 100 for the last six years. The Grand Slam title was of course a great achievement as well," she said.
It's hard to believe Mirza is just 23, given that she has already gone through so much professionally and personally and the girl with the killer forehand thinks her best years are ahead of her. "My main goal this year would be to stay healthy. The wrist injury, owing to my grip, is something I'll have to deal with. But I believe the best years are ahead of me," she said.
Mirza, who led India's promotion to the Asia-Oceania Zone Group I at the start of the month, believes the rule about only Indian-born players being eligible to represent the country does make a difference to India's chances. "Obviously, having someone like Shikha Uberoi - who is US-born and ranked around 100 - makes a difference. But then, I am Indian-born and that tells you that if you have it in you, you can make it into the team on merit," she said.
This is Mirza's fifth visit to the tennis stadium and the Indian star said she will miss the place once the event is moved to the Dubai Sports City next year. "The two names, Dubai Tennis Championship and the Aviation Club are synonymous. It is a great stadium and the atmosphere is amazing. I have great memories here and I feel at home. I am definitely going to miss all that," she said.
