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Sania Mirza with Cara Black with the Martina Navratilova doubles trophy in SingaporeSania Mirza has enjoyed her most successful season on the tennis circuit in 2014. The Indian ace, who turns 28 years old in November, won another mixed doubles Grand Slam (this time at the US Open with Bruno Soares), won the season-ending WTA Tour Finals in Singapore – the biggest title in tennis after the four Grand Slams - with Cara Black, peaked at No. 5 in the world rankings and won an Asian games gold medal in mixed doubles and a bronze medal in women’s doubles (India’s first medal in women’s doubles at the Asian Games).A decade into her tennis career, Mirza is climbing new heights every season and even after her incredible 2014 season, there is plenty for her to achieve in 2015. Here are the top 5 goals for Sania Mirza in the coming year.
#5 Bring the WTA Tour back to India
For the rise of players in a sport like tennis in a country like India, it is essential to have international-level facilities, coaches and tournaments in your own backyard. With the opening of her academy in Hyderabad, Sania Mirza has kickstarted her contribution to the sport in the country but it might take a few years before someone from the academy is able to break through on the circuit like she did a decade ago.
Perhaps, Mirza could use her good offices with the women's tennis tour, the Indian tennis administrators and her own sponsors to bring a WTA event back to the country.
India has held 2 WTA events in the past – the Hyderbad event starting in 2003 to 2005 which later moved to Bangalore from 2006 to 2008 before folding. Kolkata played host to the Sunfeast Open from 2005 to 2007.
With the IPTL and CTL kicking off this year, the profile of tennis is bound to go up in the coming months and having India back on the WTA calendar will surely bode well for the future of Indian women’s tennis.
#4 Plan Ahead for the 2016 Rio Olympics
The 2012 London Olympics were anything but a memorable experience for the Indian tennis squad and there’s no reason to get into the details once again. But come 2016 at the Rio Olympics, AITA and Mirza will be faced with another dilemma – who will partner Mirza in the mixed doubles at Rio which will continue to be a medal prospect.
At this point, Sania holds the aces with her ‘top 10’ ranking while Paes and Bopanna are both outside the top 20 after a forgettable 2014 season. 12 months is a long time and things could change, but perhaps it would help if Mirza and the AITA opened up a dialogue about who she should partner in Rio.
Paes has been AITA’s blue-eyed boy all along and Rio will be his final Olympics but the Paes-Mirza combination have failed to win titles in the past. Bopanna’s big serve could complement Mirza’s big forehand but on paper, so should Paes’ deft skills at the net.
In the end, mixed doubles is a lot about chemistry and communication. Some advance planning could perhaps help Mirza play with her prospective partner at the Slams ahead of Rio to work on that chemistry and communication.
The same goes for women’s doubles where Mirza could qualify if she maintains her top 10 ranking (going by the 2012 Olympics selection criteria). After Mirza, India's next set of players in the doubles rankings are Ankita Raina, Prarthana Thombare and Sharmadaa Baluu, all are under-21 and ranked between 301-400 currently.
Perhaps choosing one of them (or another player depending on how things pan out in the next few months) would be a good idea. Some off-season training, perhaps some requests for doubles wild cards when her regular partner Su-Wei Hsieh is not available to play, and playing together in the Fed Cup – who knows, a medal in women’s doubles may not be as unthinkable as it does today.
#3 Complete the Mixed Doubles Career Slam by winning Wimbledon
While Sania Mirza may not have a women's doubles Grand Slam title, the Indian ace has won 3 mixed doubles Grand Slam titles - and only needs the Wimbledon title to complete her Career Slam in that format.
Sania won her first at the 2009 Australian Open and her second at the 2012 French Open – both with Mahesh Bhupathi. After the London Olympics selection controversy, the pair decided to play with other partners on the circuit and she won her third slam - the US Open mixed title in September with Brazil's Bruno Soares. She has also reached the finals at the Australian Open on two other occasions.
Only 5 other women in the history of tennis have won all the four mixed doubles slams (Martina Navratilova, Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Cara Black and Daniela Hantuchova) and a Wimbledon win will get Sania into that niche group of women.
#2 Become World No. 1 in Doubles
Sania Mirza ended the season as World No. 6, one spot below her personal best of No. 5 which she achieved in September this year. The Indian has 6,470 ranking points, just 305 points behind Black, who is at No. 4.
The decision to play the Asian Games instead of the mandatory Wuhan Open (where 900 ranking points were up for grabs for the winner) certainly impacted her year-end ranking but Mirza has no regrets.
She has stated that she has the World No. 1 ranking in mind as one of her goals for 2015 and the top spot is certainly not out of reach. The current World No.1 spot is jointly head by the Italians Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani, who have 9,585 points – just over 3,000 points ahead of Sania.
The Italians are defending 5,300 of those points through the first three Grand Slams of the year while Mirza is defending only 990 points there. That’s a lot of opportunity for Mirza and the Grand Slams are going to be the key for her ambitions to become World No. 1.
#1 Win A Women\'s Doubles Grand Slam title
The one glaring gap in Sania’s resume is a women’s doubles Grand Slam title. Sania came closest to winning India’s first women’s doubles Grand Slam at the 2011 French Open with partner Elena Vesnina, where they reached the final but went down to the Czech duo Andrea Hlavackova/ Lucie Hradecka. Since then, Sania has been as far as the semis on four other occasions – atleast once at each of the other three slams – but has failed to get into another final.
Sania will partner with Su-Wei Hsieh, of Chinese Taipei, on the doubles circuit in 2015 after Black said her paying schedule for 2015 was uncertain. Hsieh is a former Top 30 player in singles herself and the 28-year-old has won two of the last six slams in women’s doubles (with Chinese partner Shuai Peng). Hopefully with her own maturity and Hsieh’s experience in Grand Slam finals, the next time Sania reaches one, she will end up on the winning side!!
