Hyderabadi zafrani pulao!!

For long, Sania Mirza has been an enigma for Indian sports fans.

The Hyderabadi, blessed with one of the most natural and blazing forehands, once again captured the attention of the tennis globe when she stormed through the draw at the WTA event in Stanford, US, last week. She lost the final to Anna Chakvteadze rather tamely, but the most tangible gain has been a big rise in the WTA rankings.

Sania has often used the phraseology “Ranking is just a number, the real task is to play well” as a defence mechanism when she has been caught in the free fall. But now that she is No 31 as per the latest WTA rankings, she will be hoping this can get better or stay constant so that she gets seeded – again a first for an Indian in a long time – when the US Open starts at Flushing Meadows on August 27.

To be sure, this is not the first time Sania has caused a few ripples in the circuit. Coming as it were in the hard court season leading up to the US Open, there can be nothing better than this in a year which has been pretty wretched for the Indian. Getting injured early on and missing valuable weeks in the clay season meant Sania had a big handicap for the rest of the season.

And unlike just some niggle, this was a major surgery on her knee forcing her to miss a lot of tennis. On return, she was getting bumped out in round one or round two, but her resilience never vanished.

Despite what critics had to say (I include myself in it!) I thought Sania would find it very, very difficult to stay ahead in the last few weeks leading into the US Open. But one thing I knew for sure was all the wins she was scoring in doubles was bound to help her as far as her own game went. The best of pros have used doubles to hone their skills at the net.

And in a way, when you are out of a tournament early (in singles), it always makes sense to be in there and get in as many matches as you can for getting a better feel on the ball. The Sania forehand is now being referred to as oft as the old Jim Courier forehand, who would bludgeon his opponents into submission.

All I can say right now, to borrow some lines from the movie Cheeni Kum, the Hyderabadi Zafrani pulao flavour is there across the oceans. Sania, I hope this aroma lasts well through the US Open fortnight…


+