Ace against Odds

Hyderabad. I have seen enough on the world stage to understand what a difficult task it is to produce Grand Slam champions. The work will have to start from the grassroots level and I believe I have already started off on the trail to put a professional system in place. I have also formulated a scheme for adopting, supporting and grooming specially talented youngsters from rural India. We will need to start by producing a bunch of juniors who will compete in the Junior Grand Slams. We will have to support and monitor their progress to ensure that at least a handful of them make it to the top-100 in professional tennis. Towards this end, I will need to create a team that understands what world-class competition is all about in a sport like tennis. I will have to build up support from several quarters. A lot of work needs to be done. Tennis is a truly global sport with a phenomenally large following in all corners of the world. There have been occasions when the top-10 ranked players all belonged to different countries and the top-60 were representatives of as many as thirty different nations. This is a record that is unlikely to be equalled in any sport apart from tennis, where the next champion can emerge out of virtually any country in the world. The game has also given successive generations more colourful champions and personalities than perhaps any other sport has done and this has inspired even more countries to embrace it. A great deal of effort and sacrifice goes into producing a professional tennis player. But the respect that a country earns by being represented at mega sporting events like the Grand Slams has to be seen to be believed and experienced to be understood. All I can say is that every drop of sweat and blood shed in the process is worth its weight in gold. I have always dared to dream because I believe that dreams are the seeds that lead to achievement. However, it is not enough to merely dream. You need to back it up with years of hard work to ultimately produce the result that makes a difference. My vision for the development of tennis in our country may seem far- fetched but I have been in this position before. When I was a little girl pursuing a dream, nobody believed an Indian woman could win a Grand Slam title or be ranked No. 1 in the world. I have always relished the challenge of defying the odds that are stacked against me. I want to do it at least one more time and play a constructive role in nurturing the next generation of Grand Slam champions from India that our country so richly deserves to have.

Sania with her parents at Juhu Beach a few days before their departure to USA in December 1990

Seven-year-old Sania practising on a clay court in Hyderabad, in one of the many tennis attires put together by her mother at home

Dressed as a beggar for her school’s fancy-dress competition With her water bottle during a practice session

With her family and aunt Anjum (second from left) during one of her US Open campaigns

Receiving awards at the many State Ranking competitions; (below) in action at one of the Tournaments

With the Bhambri sisters, Ankita (second from right) and Sanaa (centre), and their brother Yuki at one of the AITA events in Delhi

Working hard on her forehand in the early days

Acknowledging the cheers of the crowd after winning the WTA singles title in Hyderabad in 2005

Meeting Mary Pierce, winner of two Grand Slams in singles, for the very first time before partnering her at the Hyderabad Open, 2003 With noted tennis coach and Grand Slam winner Tony Roche and trainer Jade Hottes, at their training stint together in December 2005

Lifting the Junior Wimbledon 2003 trophy with Russian partner Alisa Kleybanova With Mahesh Bhupathi, holding their two Grand Slam trophies won at the Australian Open 2009 (below) and French Open 2012 (above)

With partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands after winning the 2013 Dubai Open title

At the US Open 2005, the year Sania made rapid strides on the professional circuit with breathtaking speed

‘Dad’s little girl’

Celebrating her Asian Games 2006 medals with her mother at home in Hyderabad With her parents, sister and Shoaib Malik at her Walima dinner reception in Lahore

Sania and Shoaib at the ‘Just Turned One’ event to felicitate her on becoming the World No. 1 in women’s doubles in April 2015 At the Formula One Indian Grand Prix in 2012

With her parents and younger sister Anam at the Taj Mahal during a visit to Agra in 2015 Under the watchful eyes of her father and coach

The Mirza family at the Great Wall of China during the Beijing Olympics 2008, with Sania’s doubles partner Sunitha Rao (centre) With the late Sunil Dutt, then Sports Minister, and Congress President Sonia Gandhi

With the legendary Rod Laver in the Centre Court named after him at Melbourne Park just before the Australian Open mixed doubles final in 2014

At the Sania Mirza Tennis Academy (SMTA), being felicitated by Martina Navratilova (below) and with trainees at SMTA



With Cara Black and the 6 ft 11” Ivo Karlovic during the 2014 French Open

(Left to right) Scott Davidoff, Shayamal Vallabhjee, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania and her father after winning the 2009 Australian Open At the Beijing Olympics with Mahesh and ‘Scotty’

With Australian cricketers Shane Watson (extreme left) and Mitchell Johnson (extreme right) and tennis player Alicia Molik during an exhibition match at Hobart In celebration mode with Martina Hingis

About the Book Currently ranked World No. 1 in women’s doubles, Sania Mirza became an instant sensation when she won the Wimbledon Championships girls’ doubles title at the age of sixteen. From 2003 until her retirement from the singles circuit in 2012, she was ranked by the Women’s Tennis Association as India’s top player, both in singles and doubles. A six-time Grand Slam champion, she notched up an incredible forty-one consecutive wins with her doubles partner, Martina Hingis, between August 2015 and February 2016. Ace against Odds is the story of this most iconic Indian player who beat incredible odds to get to the top of her sport. Sania writes with candour of the hardships along the way, of the physical and emotional trauma caused by injuries and medical procedures, of the friends and partners who became her mainstay along with her family, of the pressures of constant public scrutiny and, not least, the politics and heartbreaks that inevitably accompany success. Sania broke the rules, she spoke her mind, she pushed herself to the limit, she played for India fiercely and without care for how it might impact her rankings – she is and will continue to remain an inspiration long after she steps off the tennis courts.

About the Authors A graduate from Mumbai University, Imran Mirza is a professional builder who dabbled with sports journalism in the early part of his working life. As Sania’s father, coach, guide and mentor, he has been instrumental in shaping her tennis career over a span of twenty-three years. Shivani Gupta is a sports journalist with a decade of rich experience, both in print and television. As a fan, writer and TV presenter, she has travelled the world to cover some of the biggest sporting events from Wimbledon to cricket World Cups.

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First published in hardback in India in 2016 by Harper Sport An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Copyright © Sania Mirza 2016 P-ISBN: 978-93-5136-263-0 Epub Edition © June 2016 ISBN: 978-93-5136-264-7 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 Sania Mirza asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts are as reported by her, and the publishers are not in any way liable for the same. All rights reserved under The Copyright Act, 1957. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers India. Cover image: Avinash Gowariker Cover design: HarperCollins Publishers India www.harpercollins.co.in HarperCollins Publishers A-75, Sector 57, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301, India 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF, United Kingdom Hazelton Lanes, 55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900, Toronto, Ontario M5R 3L2 and 1995 Markham Road, Scarborough, Ontario M1B 5M8, Canada 25 Ryde Road, Pymble, Sydney, NSW 2073, Australia 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007, USA

Table of Contents Title Page Table of Contents Foreword by Martina Hingis Introduction by Mahesh Bhupathi Prologue 1. The First Miss of My Life 2. Early Lessons 3. Getting a Grip 4. The First Breakthrough 5. An Unforgettable Experience 6. Junior ‘High’ 7. The African Safari 8. Playing for India 9. First Brush with Stardom 10. The Gold Rush and Beyond 11. Of Coaches and Critics 12. My Grand Slam Debut 13. Champion at Home 14. Learning New Responsibilities 15. The Best Match of My Life 16. At the US Open, 2005 17. With Fame Comes Controversy 18. My Second Year on the Circuit – 2006 19. Meeting Martina Hingis 20. The Hopman Cup Adventure 21. Double the Fun! 22. The Charminar Controversy 23. To the Brink and Back 24. Bangkok to Bengaluru 25. Olympic Dreams 26. My First Grand Slam Title 27. Heartbreak Time 28. Finding Love 29. CWG and Asian Games 2010 30. Striking Form Again

31. Goodbye to Singles 32. Starring at Roland Garros 33. The London Drama 34. The Doubles Mission 35. A Mixed Season 36. The Road to No. 1 37. On Top of the World 38. Wimbledon Champions! 39. Flying High 40. A Blessed Life Photographic Inserts About the Book About the Author Copyright