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Sport involving extreme competitiveness is addictive. There is no greater joy than watching a see-saw struggle between two equally matched teams, contesting in a high adrenaline, high-stakes game. Over the length of such a contest, casualness changes to intensity, joy gives way to nervousness, admiration gives way to zealous support and fans become fanatics.
It is fun still, when a contest divides an audience that clearly, the followers leaning one way or the other, unable to hang on to the middle line that lets you enjoy sport without being a partisan. Yet, there is also a beauty in the way some teams dominate a match, a tournament, sometimes, an entire year. There is a joy in seeing a team reach the pinnacle of success and proving that certain combinations check all boxes and when all boxes are checked, sport becomes largely predictable, assuring us of the sanity behind supporting good teams.
That is a massive reason why SanTina is a team to cheer for in 2016. The doubles team of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis finished the year No.1 and No.2 which is amazing considering that at the end of Miami Open, their second tournament win together more than eight months back, Hingis jokingly said, ‘Our aim is to get Sania to No.1’. And she did that, didn’t she?
The beginnings
SanTina ended the year at the top, while also bagging Doubles Team of the Year at the WTA Awards. That almost didn’t happen considering Sania had started the year with close friend, American Bethanie Mattek-Sands on a victorious note at the Sydney International. However, a couple of early exits in subsequent tournaments forced Sania to look at other partners including Hsieh Su-Wei. However, her next title will come with Hingis at the BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells in March and they never looked back from then on. Miami Open and Family Circle Cup at Charleston followed next in April announcing them as strong contenders at the Wimbledon. This is the point where Sania reached the No.1 ranking, a place she hasn’t been dismantled from since.
The twin Grand Slams
The big one arrived in June/July. Sania finally got her hands over the Wimbledon and before the tennis world could question the efficacy of the team, Sania and Hingis stunned everyone with a second Grand Slam, the US Open in September. Wimbledon was a rollercoaster for the team which trailed 5-2 in the third set only to summon their inner belief and skills to win five consecutive games to reach game, set and match against Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.
At the US Open Finals, they had a much more straightforward win against Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova, winning 6-3, 6-3. The Indian-Swiss pairing was by then, the unopposed, daunting and intimidating opponents in the Women’s Doubles circuit.
The extended euphoria
Some players exert themselves so much at the Grand Slams, there is very little left in the tank once they are done reaching the apex. However, in case of Sania and Hingis, the juggernaut didn’t come to a grinding halt. Hingis, owing to her 94 WTA titles was inducted into the Hall of Fame and Sania was easily the most popular sportswoman in a country of over a billion people, receiving the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
The 28-year-old Mirza in combination with the 34-year-old Hingis, who at 16 and 17 became the youngest ever player to be ranked No.1 in Women’s Singles and Doubles respectively, continued to win titles, ending the year with an unbelievable 9 titles. The wins included Guangzhou International Women’s Open, Wuhan Open and China Open before ending the year on a high at the WTA Finals in Singapore in October/November.
Such was the dominance of SanTina that the summit clash of the WTA Finals lasted a little over an hour where they trounced their opponents, the Muguruza/Navarro pair 6-0, 6-3. That win also extended their winning streak to 22 matches over six tournaments. Even more amazing was the fact that after their loss in the semi-finals at Cincinnati Masters in August, they had dropped just two sets beginning with the US Open.
Their game together
A brilliant collage of reasons explain why Sania and Hingis seemed so unstoppable this year. In terms of pure skill, Hingis makes up for Sania’s biggest weaknesses, her mobility across the court and reliable volleying at the net. Sania brings one of the most powerful baseline offences in the game with stunning return of serves and one of the best forehands in contemporary women’s tennis.
Together they are nimble and powerful; together they can win the delicate points and smash the angles with breath-taking power. But the final missing piece, is the actual camaraderie – two women who thought their careers ended because of injuries before turning it around big time in the doubles. Hingis doesn’t have much more to achieve and is therefore clearly enjoying her second wind on the court mentoring, in a way, the much younger Sania. It helps that Hingis’ association with India is extended further with her pairing with Leander Paes.
What does 2016 hold?
9 titles in a year including 2 Grand Slams is more than what most teams can bargain for in the ever changing dynamics and standards of the doubles’ and mixed doubles’ tennis. But given their roaring form (Sania and Hingis started the year on No.6 and No. 11 respectively with Sania adrift of No.1 ranked Sara Errani by more than 3000 points), it is quite possible that the doubles pair could end up becoming one of the most accomplished pairs in the Open Era to hold all four Grand Slams at the same time.
That they are undoubtedly brilliant on hard courts is more than obvious for everyone to see. But if they can iron out the wrinkles, the Australian Open and the French Open, in particular, are in more ways than one, low-lying fruits for the delightful combo.
