HER GAME OR The Media Or THE CLERICS?
Sania Mirza’s Rocketing Popularity : Is it Going to last or flicker & fade? Or Will It Be Just A Bubble’ Or ’a Flash In The Pan’? Who can tell? Is there anyone Who has seen ’TOMORROW’?
Sania Owes More To The Clerics Than To Her Game for her rocketing popularity.
How then can you possibly explain the Iconic Worship of Sania Mirza not only by her headless committed admirers having uncontrollable adrenalin level but also the sane & sensible members of the public who watch Tennis or think or speak about it, most of them for the first time in their life? They’re all ecstatic to have a media-made brand new icon! They wanted to worship something & they got an Icon!
Please don’t mistake me for one who is not for giving FULL encouragement & support to the Sport-stars hailing from our country, that too once in a blue moon. All I’m against is this new form of hero(ine)-worship -- too much hype that Mirza gets but doesn’t deserve. Is our nation -- men, women & media-- gone mad? Does she DESERVE the Alleluia & Paeans being sung on her? Why is this lip & lung service? That’s the question.
Let’s first get the facts about Sania straight:
Let’s first rightly assess what she has achieved so far in the INDIAN CONTEXT. Honestly speaking, she (at 18) has reached the height no other Indian Women Tennis-Star has ever did. She has her many FIRSTs ( among Indian, Women) to her credit:
- #1 Tennis Player From India:
First Indian Woman to win WTA Single / Double Titles
- First Indian Woman Player to reach Grand Slam THIRD Round
(Australian Open, 2005)
Asian Junior Championship in 2003
Wimbledon Junior (Doubles) Champion (2003)
First in creating record of sorts: 106 Victories against 24 Losses at some recent stage. (Tallies keep changing, match after match)
US Open 2005: Singles : Fourth Round; Doubles : First Round.
7.Was able to defeat a player ranked higher to her.
6.She’s Ranked World # 34.
Her Strengths: (Indian Context)
Good Looks, legs & sprightly Youthfulness & infectious cheer
Her Robust Confidence & her Belief in herself.
Her Chutzpah & toughness : the Hallmark of the Present day ’Bolder-Generation’.
’Her Raw Talent’ : The report says, she almost always wins the first set (irrespective of the opponent’s high ranking). Her powerful Ground Strokes.
5.She’s poised for improvement & hell-bent on it.
6.She has a good coach in John Ferrington. Has been Trained by her former coach, CGK Bhupathy. Has Bob Brett ( Boris Becker’s former coach) as her Specialist Advisor ; has leanings on Mahesh Bhupathy’s expertise.
All ardent Tennis-lovers world over & the enthusiastic fans hanker after Sania Mirza to reach the TOP (within the top 10 places, if not the First) in the World Tennis. Critics consider, ’It’s never easy to move up from # 34 to TOP 10 not even Top 20’. With this point in view, we’ve to examine how she compares not only with the Indian Stars but other International Tennis Stars as well. Here is a brief comparison based on statistics & records available from literature on her:
- Not a great record at 18: Martina Hingis was winning Grand Slam Titles at the age of 16. Many WTA players in the Top 50 were under 17.
2.Monica Seles, though not muscular-built, had more POWER, Anticipation-skills, Reach & Angles, FAST SPEED & Shot-selection.
3.’This World # 34 lost to someone 80 notches below her’. ( no big deal but not to the CREDIT of Sania, the GREAT! )
3.Where does Sania stand before the FEROCIOUS DUET of Sharapova with Serena Williams & Lindsay Davenport with Alicia Molik? Would Scorpio Sania be FEROCIOUS enough to sting her opponent?
By going thro’ the enormous literature available on Sania Mirza’s Game, I could gather what are the Technical Skills she is found short of & has to improve.To reach the World Standard, she needs to offset the following shortcomings, the unbiased experts have noticed and pointed out in HER APPROACH & GAME:
Her Physique & Fitness: She looks ’chubby for the height’ & is on ’plumpier side’ .She is more like Martina & Hingis in size than those Big-sized & Huge-muscled players in the field. Height & fitness seem o.k.
SERVING EFFICACY: (may be, because of her strained stomach muscles): Her Serves went wrong; so, she was pushed to go on the defensive. Her second Serves were weak & got thrashed). Should try to minimize double-faults.She ’definitely needs great work’ in this department.
Foot Speed ( ’cos of her injuries?) : Not to the expected level. For Acceleration & Deceleration, she has not that much leg-muscle power. She has to improve her Reaction-Time & her Balance for expected Lateral Movements & Change of Direction. As one columnist jocularly & metaphorically pointed out, ’her acceleration on court is more FORD than FERRARI .’
Mobility (lateral & vertical), Speed & Movement on Court: speed is reported to be ’an inherited trend’. Sania is not FAST enough on court & lacks in height (she’s 5’ 7’’). For better court coverage, she has to work on improving her Stride Length & Stride Frequency
STAMINA: It is observed, She invariably wins in the first set but she’s not able to sustain that ’Intensity’ (as they say ’she goes out of gas’).
In short, Sania Mirza needs to work assiduously to overcome these shortcomings.
Isn’t Sania Mania sweeping the land of billion-plus? Who created this Monstrosity? IT IS The INDIAN Media! Not for the right or good reasons or purpose. JUST for their Business Promotion!
It is SPOILING her CAREER. The ’Politically Correct’ media calls her, ’The Indian Pride & an Inspiration for Millions’, ’ Country’s First Super-Star’ of this Millennium’ etc., etc. She has overnight became ’Advertiser’s Dream’, ’Sports Super-star’ ’Icon for Youth’, ’Personification of the NEW INDIA & WOMEN-POWER’, ’Secular Strength’, ’Mirza Phenomenon’ & what not. Websites such as ’ http://www.wah sania’ are gaining popularity. Some newspapers have opened special section Exclusively for Sania and are waiting on wings to heap praises on her on any of her minor or major achievements!
But what actually is Sania as a player? Still an ’Apprentice’. She’s just ’finding her Tennis feet’ ! She has a long, long way to go to prove that she’s not a ’flash in the pan’. She needs to move mountains to stay in the game & face stiff international competition. THIS IS THE REALITY. But the rogue media which had ignored so many Men Tennis Stars all along, has already made her a ’QUEEN OF TENNIS’! That too before she finding her feet.
But what made her REALLY TOO POPULAR beyond her STATURE & SUBSTANCE? The ’SYMPATHY FACTOR’ ! When the Clerics tried to go to the extent of issuing Fatwa against her for the way she dressed though like other tennis women-players, a WAVE of ’SYMPATHY’ bigger & larger than Tsunami began Sweeping the Land & People started standing behind her pledging her full support.
So, Sania OWES more to the Clerics than to her Game For her Instant Popularity beyond any reasonable proportion!
But in all her innocence, Sania says in an interview what she looks for in her to-be boyfriend. Suspense! I won’t tell. Find for yourselves!