Sania Mirza
Sania Mirza is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India. As a Muslim, she has received widespread criticism from Orthodox Islamic groups, as her on court attire allegedly did not conform to Islamic dress codes. However she has a huge following in her home country despite only ever winning one WTA Tour title. Her annual earnings from sponsorship are second only to cricketer Sachin Tendulkar in India.
Early Life
Sania Mirza was born on 15 Nov, 1986 to Nasima and Imran in Mumbai. The family relocated to Hyderabad and Sania Mirza along with her sister Anam grew up in Hyderabad. Sania started playing tennis at the age of 6 with her father but was originally told she was too small to make it in the game by one coach. However her parents were determined for the young Sania to succeed and after finding a coach who was to prepared to take her on began to see her potential realised. By the age of 12 she had created a huge buzz in India by winning the under-14 and under-16 Indian national championships.
WTA Career
Sania Mirza made her professional debut in 2002 and went on to win three singles ITF titles in her first season. The first came in January 2002, at Manila, she defeated Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan in the final 6-0, 4-6, 6-3. The second came in September at Hyderabad, India where she defeated the same opponent in straight sets 6-1, 6-2. Her third ITF title came against I-Ting Wang in November.
At the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Sania won the Juniors doubles playing with Alisa Kleybanova and became the youngest Indian and the first Indian woman to win a junior Grand Slam title. Sania also won gold medals in the Women's singles, Mixed doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi, Women's doubles and Women's team events with Rushmi Chakravarthi at the Afro-Asian Games. She also won ITF Titles in Benin City and Jakarta and broke into the worlds top 400 for the first time.
In 2004 Sania made history by becoming the first Indian to win a WTA Tour title of any kind. This came at Hyderabad in the women’s doubles when partnering South African Liezel Huber they defeated Chinese pair Li Ting and Sun Tiantian 7–6, 6–4 in the final. She also won five ITF singles tournaments at Boca Raton, Campobasso, Wrexham, London and Lagos.
2005 was Sania’s first full year on the WTA Tour. She made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams in the third round. In February Sania claimed her only WTA Tour singles title. This came at Hyderabad defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the final. At The US Open Sania Mirza reached the 4th round, her best ever Grand Slam finish, before losing to Maria Sharapova 2-6, 1-6. Sania finished the season ranked 31st.
At the 2006 Doha Asian Games, Mirza won the silver in the women's singles category and the gold in the mixed doubles partnering Leander Paes. She was also part of the Indian women's team that took silver in the team event. She also won 2 WTA Tour doubles titles at Bangalore and Kolkata both with Huber. The 2008 season was again affected by injury. Sania struggled to gain any form with a string of injuries forcing her withdrawer from a number of tournaments including the French and US Opens. As a result she is in danger of dropping out of the worlds top 100 currently being ranked 97th. Off Court & Trivia Sania Mirza Links AskMen | BabeInvasion | Bestzilla | Celebrity Link | Clago | Chickipedia | Ent Wagon | Famous Hookups | FreeOnes | Star Pages
A Injury affected start to the season saw Sania suffer a two-month lay-off due to a knee injury. However she achieved a career high ranking of 18 following a string of impressive showings during the 2007 summer hard-court season. She reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic and won the doubles event with Shahar Pe'er, and reached the quarterfinals of the Tier 1 Acura Classic to finish eighth in the 2007 U.S. Open Series standings. Her best Grand Slam performance of the season came at the U.S. Open where she reached the third round before losing to Anna Chakvetadze.
