Sania Mirza is the current youth icon in India. Coming from Hyderabad, this teenager is creating history in Indian tennis by becoming the first ever Indian to break into the top-50 WTA rankings. She also became the first Indian woman to win a WTA tourney when she lifted the Hyderabad Open trophy in February 2005.
Her highest ranking in singles was 36 a few months before.
Still not out of her teens, Sania Mirza has got a huge fan following, both inside and outside the country. Having trained under C.G.Krishna Bhupathi (father of another famous Indian tennis star, Mahesh Bhupathi), Sania’s ambition is to one day become one among the top-20 in the world.
Sania Mirza has also been honoured with the prestigious Arjuna award by the Indian government for the year 2004.
Birth Date: 15 Nov 1986
Birth Place: Mumbai, India
Residence: Hyderabad, India
Nationality: INDIA
Height: 5’7 1/2” (1.53m)
Weight: 130 lbs. (59kg)
Plays: Right Handed (Double Handed Backhand)
Favourite Surface: Hard
Coach: C.G.K. Bhupathi
Age Began Tennis: 6
Personal Interests: Swimming, Music
Other Information: Ambition in tennis: To be in the Top 20 of the World.
Favourite player: Steffi Graf
She has earned a large fan following in India as she is one of the very few young women from the country to have done well at the highest levels of sport. In 2005, she was awarded the Arjuna award in tennis for the year 2004. She has defeated two top 10 players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova. She is a devout Muslim, who began playing tennis at the age of six.
Sania won the Wimbledon Championships Girls’ Doubles title in 2003, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. She got a wild card entry to the 2005 Australian Open and created history by becoming the first Indian woman to enter the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. She lost in the 3rd round to eventual champion Serena Williams. On February 12, 2005, she became the first Indian woman to win a WTA singles title defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the Hyderabad Open Finals.
In her Wimbledon Championships debut, Mirza won her first match at the 2005 event, defeating Akiko Morigami of Japan in three very tight sets, 6-3, 3-6, 8-6. However, she was narrowly defeated in the second round by Svetlana Kuznetsova (a player whom she had defeated earlier in the year for her first top ten victory) 4-6, 7-6,
4-6.
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