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Indian tennis star Sania Mirza has opined that it was a historic moment for the nation's women's tennis team to qualify for the Fed Cup playoffs for the very first time.
Sania Mirza spoke at length about her tennis career apart from India's glorious run at the Asia-Oceania Group I Fed Cup qualifiers during an exclusive interaction with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda Live.
On being asked about her thoughts on qualifying for the Fed Cup playoffs, Sania Mirza responded that the Indian team had created history, while calling it an amazing experience for her personally as it was just her fifth tournament after having become a mother.
"I think that we made history. I feel it was an amazing experience for me to come back, it was only my fifth tournament back after I had a baby."
The former World No. 1 in women's doubles highlighted that it was all the more memorable as she had combined with Ankita Raina to win the decisive doubles encounters in all the ties after the score had been locked at one apiece.
"And to come back and to be able to win all those matches at 1-1, decisive match every time that we played and to be able to be a part of that history."
Sania Mirza pointed out that the Indian team had never made it this far in the Fed Cup, with she herself having been part of the squad for almost two decades.
"Because I have been playing Fed Cup since 2003 if I am not wrong, so it's been a long time. In between obviously I didn't play for two years because I was having a baby."
She added that it was probably a script written for her, coming back after a hiatus of more than two years and being a part of the historical achievement.
"Honestly I felt that it was my calling, sort of comeback from this child birth and then be a part of history."
Sania Mirza on being the senior member of the Fed Cup squad
Sania Mirza mentioned that it was a matter of great pride of having been part of a young team that had delivered on the big stage, with the 33-year-old being the senior-most member of the squad.
"And I feel extremely extremely proud to be part of that team. We had a very young team. Usually I used to be the baby of the team and suddenly I was the senior person of the team. It was a lot of fun."
She added that the tournament was even more special because it was played in Dubai, her second home, with her son watching from the stands in a couple of matches.
"It was also in Dubai, which is like my second home. So it was really really nice. And I had my son watching me in the stands. He was present for one or two matches as well, so it was an extremely proud moment for me."
In the Asia/Oceania Group I event, India had gone down 0-3 against China in the first tie but bounced back to register four consecutive victories, beating Uzbekistan (3-0), South Korea (2-1), Chinese Taipei (2-1) and Indonesia (2-1) respectively.
In the last three ties, Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina had won the decisive doubles encounters to seal India's victories.
