LONDON: Not playing Wimbledon, wasn’t a factor Sania Mirza entertained. Ranking points or no.
Seated in the sprawling player restaurant, sporting a caramel-hued Nike kit, the 35-year-old, said, between bites of strawberries and cream, that while grass may not be her favourite surface, the tournament, where she has won the junior girls’ and women’s doubles titles, held a special place in her heart.
“Every tennis player will tell you that this is where they want to be this time of the year,” she said, “whether you like the surface or no.”
Sania, who has been in London this past week, preparing on the slick lawns of Aorangi Park, said that the courts were playing ‘very slow and the bounce was very low’.
“The bounce was always low,” she argued, “but the courts were once much faster. I would say it was much faster between 2005 and 2010 and then it started slowing gradually.”
The Indian has always preferred a fast hardcourt to grass. “Truer the bounce the better for me, but grass gives you the chance to create opportunities to play the big shot,” said Sania, who is swinging on her forehand again. “This is the toughest switch in our sport, clay to grass, you have to adapt to the timing of the ball and it’s not a long run that we have on grass.”
Sania and Czech Lucie Hradecka, seeded six in the women’s doubles, open their campaign against a combine that could present a thorny challenge — Poland’s Magdalena Frech and the left-handed Beatriz Haddad Maia from Brazil. Maia, 6 ft 1, ranked No.28 in singles, and Frech, ranked 92, are a tough pair.
“It’s a tricky first-round,” Sania conceded, “all the more because one of them is also a very good doubles player.”
Sania, a former No.1, whose current doubles ranking is at 24, is happy with her game and the way the year is going for the Indo-Czech pairing. “For me, winning would make it a successful tournament,” she said, “making the semis would be a solid run.”
Ramkumar Ramanathan, who’ll partner Bosnia’s Tomislav Brkic, will go up against the American pairing of Tommy Paul and Nicholas Monroe in the men’s doubles.
Seated in the sprawling player restaurant, sporting a caramel-hued Nike kit, the 35-year-old, said, between bites of strawberries and cream, that while grass may not be her favourite surface, the tournament, where she has won the junior girls’ and women’s doubles titles, held a special place in her heart.
“Every tennis player will tell you that this is where they want to be this time of the year,” she said, “whether you like the surface or no.”
Sania, who has been in London this past week, preparing on the slick lawns of Aorangi Park, said that the courts were playing ‘very slow and the bounce was very low’.
“The bounce was always low,” she argued, “but the courts were once much faster. I would say it was much faster between 2005 and 2010 and then it started slowing gradually.”
The Indian has always preferred a fast hardcourt to grass. “Truer the bounce the better for me, but grass gives you the chance to create opportunities to play the big shot,” said Sania, who is swinging on her forehand again. “This is the toughest switch in our sport, clay to grass, you have to adapt to the timing of the ball and it’s not a long run that we have on grass.”
Sania and Czech Lucie Hradecka, seeded six in the women’s doubles, open their campaign against a combine that could present a thorny challenge — Poland’s Magdalena Frech and the left-handed Beatriz Haddad Maia from Brazil. Maia, 6 ft 1, ranked No.28 in singles, and Frech, ranked 92, are a tough pair.
“It’s a tricky first-round,” Sania conceded, “all the more because one of them is also a very good doubles player.”
Sania, a former No.1, whose current doubles ranking is at 24, is happy with her game and the way the year is going for the Indo-Czech pairing. “For me, winning would make it a successful tournament,” she said, “making the semis would be a solid run.”
Ramkumar Ramanathan, who’ll partner Bosnia’s Tomislav Brkic, will go up against the American pairing of Tommy Paul and Nicholas Monroe in the men’s doubles.
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