Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza
Nickname(s)	Sania
Country	India
Residence	Hyderabad, India
Date of birth	November 15, 1986 (1986-11-15) (age 22)
Place of birth	Mumbai, India
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Weight	59 kg (130 lb/9.3 st)
Turned pro	2003
Plays	Right (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$ 1,185,316
Singles
Career record:	188–92
Career titles:	1
Highest ranking:	No. 27 (August 27, 2007)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	3r (2005, 2008)
French Open	2r (2007)
Wimbledon	2r (2005, 2007, 2008)
US Open	4r (2005)
Doubles
Career record:	125–59
Career titles:	7
Highest ranking:	No. 18 (September 10, 2007)
Mixed Doubles
Career record:	{{{mixedrecord}}}
Career titles:	{{{mixedtitles}}}
Highest ranking:	{{{highestmixedranking}}}
Infobox last updated on: February 14, 2008.

Sania Mirza (born November 15, 1986) is an Indian tennis player.

Early life

Mirza was born to a sports journalist Imran Mirza and Nasima in Mumbai. She was brought up in Hyderabad. Mirza began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father, as well as her other family members and was sponsored by the industrialist GV Krishna Reddy. She went to Nasr school in Hyderabad.And later joined St.Mary's college for her graduation.

Career

Mirza won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia.

Mirza is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 18 in doubles. . She holds the distinction of being the first Indian woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam tennis tournament . Earlier in 2005, she had become the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 U.S. Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli. In 2004, she finished runner up at the Asian Tennis Championship.

In 2005, Mirza reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing 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. As of September 2006, Mirza has notched up three top 10 wins; against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis. At the 2006 Doha Asian Games, Mirza won the silver in the women's singles category and the gold in the mixed doubles partnering Leander Paes. She was also part of the Indian women's team that won the silver in the team event.

Mirza had the best results of her career during the 2007 summer hardcourt season, finishing eighth in the 2007 U.S. Open Series standings. She reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic and won the doubles event with Shahar Pe'er, and reached the quarterfinals of the Tier 1 Acura Classic.

At the 2007 U.S. Open, she reached the third round before losing to Anna Chakvetadze for the third time in recent weeks. She fared much better in the doubles, reaching the quarterfinals in mixed with her partner Mahesh Bhupathi and the quarterfinals in the women's doubles with Bethanie Mattek, including an impressive win over number two seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur.

She represented India at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, in the women's singles and doubles events. In singles, she retired in the round of 64, while she was trailing 1-6, 1-2 against Iveta Benešová of Czech Republic. She teamed up with Sunitha Rao for the doubles event. They got a walk-over in the round of 32, but lost to Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina by 4-6, 4-6, in the round of 16.

2008

Reached QF at Hobart (as No.6 seed, l. to Pennetta in 3s);

reached 3r at Australian Open (as No.31 seed, l. to No.8 seed V.Williams 76(0) 64, having led 5-3 first set); also mixed doubles runner-up at Australian Open (w/Bhupathi; l. to T.Sun/Zimonjic).

Withdrew from Pattaya City w/left adductor strain; fell 1r at Doha (ret. vs. Govortsova w/cramping); reached 2r at [Dubai]] (as WC, l. to No.4 seed Jankovic 46 63 64, having led 3-1 third set).

Reached 4r at Indian Wells (as No.21 seed, d. No.9 seed Peer en route; l. to No.5 seed Hantuchova; win over world No.18 Peer was first Top 20 win of year);

withdrew from Miami w/right wrist injury.

Withdrew from Amelia Island w/right wrist injury;

underwent right wrist injury on April 10 (expected to miss four weeks).

Withdrew from Rome, Strasbourg and Roland Garros w/right wrist injury.

Back-to-back 2r finishes at Birmingham (as No.6 seed w/1r bye, l. to Erakovic), 's-Hertogenbosch (d. No.5 seed Pennetta in 1r; l. to Krajicek) and Wimbledon (as No.32 seed, l. to qualifier Martinez Sanchez 60 46 97, having led 4-2 third set w/4mp - 1mp leading 5-4 and 3mp leading 6-5).

Fell 1r at Stanford (l. to qualifier Keothavong 76(4) 61, having held sp leading 6-5 first set);

reached 2r at Los Angeles (as No.16 seed, l. to Yuan);

reached 2r at Stockholm (as No.6 seed, l. to Benesova in 3s).

Fell 1r at Olympics (ret. vs. Benesova w/right wrist injury);

withdrew from New Haven and US Open w/right wrist injury.

Withdrew from Guangzhou, Seoul and [[Tokyo [Japan Open]]] w/right wrist injury.

Withdrew from Quebec City w/right wrist injury.

.

Career finals

Singles

Wins (1 WTA/12 ITF)

Sania Mirza at the Hyderabad Open in 2006

Sania Mirza at the 2007 Australian Open, during her first-round womens doubles match

Doubles

Wins (7 WTA/4 ITF)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	January 7, 2002	Manila, Philippines	Hard	Radhika Tulpule	Yan-Hua Dong Yao Zhang	6–4, 6–3
2.	Mar. 3, 2003	Benin City, Nigeria	Hard	Rebecca Dandeniya	Franziska Etzel Christina Obermoser	6–3, 6–0
3.	Feb. 22, 2004	Hyderabad, India	Hard	Liezel Huber	Ting Li Tian Tian Sun	7–6, 6–4
4.	Aug. 15, 2004	London, Great Britain	Hard	Rushmi Chakravarthi	Anna Hawkins Nicole Rencken	6–3, 6–2
5.	Oct. 10, 2004	Lagos, Nigeria	Hard	Shelley Stephens	Surina De Beer Chanelle Scheepers	6–1, 6–4
6.	February 19, 2006	Bangalore, India	Hard	Liezel Huber	Anastassia Rodionova Elena Vesnina	6–3, 6–3
7.	September 24, 2006	Kolkata, India	Carpet	Liezel Huber	Yulia Beygelzimer Yuliana Fedak	6–4, 6–0
8.	May 14, 2007	Fes, Morocco	Clay	Vania King	Andreea Vanc Anastassia Rodionova	6–1, 6–2
9.	July 22, 2007	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Bethanie Mattek	Alina Jidkova Tatiana Poutchek	7–6(4), 7–5
10.	July 29, 2007	Stanford, U.S.	Hard	Shahar Pe'er	Victoria Azarenka Anna Chakvetadze	6–4, 7–6(5)
11.	August 25, 2007	New Haven, U.S.	Hard	Mara Santangelo	Cara Black Liezel Huber	6-2- 6-2

Singles performance timeline

Sania Mirza at the 2007 Australian Open

Controversy

As a Muslim, she has garnered criticism from some Orthodox Islamic groups, as her attire allegedly did not conform to Islamic dress codes. According to one report published September 8, 2005, an unnamed Islamic scholar had issued a fatwa, saying that her attire is contrary to what is permitted by Islam.^[1] A further report published the next day on this fatwa elaborated that Mirza was unfazed by the comments ^[2] Large numbers of Muslim clerics protested her attire, accusing her of being a "corrupting influence on the youth."^[3] She has been widely attacked and vilified in Islamist circles, including a cleric named Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui who said "The dress she wears on the tennis courts…leaves nothing to the imagination, She will undoubtedly be a corrupting influence.".^[4] Islamist groups such as Jamiat-ulema-e-Hind allegedly threatened to disrupt her tennis matches, following which the Calcutta police had to tighten security measures to protect her.^[5] Mirza, a Muslim from Banjara Hills, also attracted a response from the Major Shia Organization in India, The All-India Shia Muslim Personal Law Board. The Board disapproved the edict issued by some Muslim clerics on dresses worn by Mirza while playing, and asked them not to meddle in the sports arena.

In 2006, some newspapers reported that Mirza declined from playing with an Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er for fear of violent protests from India's Muslim clerics and their opposition to the existence of Israel.^[3] Mirza said in January 2008 that she considered quitting the sport because of undue controversy surrounding her actions. Mirza was pictured resting her feet during a press conference at the 2008 Hopman Cup, with an Indian flag in close proximity.^[6] She faced possible prosecution under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act after a private citizen complained. Mirza protested that, "I love my country, I wouldn't be playing Hopman Cup otherwise", and said that she meant no disrespect. On February 4, 2008, Mirza said that she would stop appearing in tennis tournaments held in India, starting with the 2008 Bangalore Open the following month, citing the series of controversies and upon advice by her manager.^[7]

References

Sources

• Sania Mirza profile on the WTA Tour's official website

1. Usopen.org
2. India Today dt. September 19, 2005 - Cover Story titled Sania Mania.
3. ^ Yediot Aharonoth, Indian tennis star refuses to play with Israeli, February 16, 2005
4. ^ The Times Of India, Sania Mirza wants land, CM not game, September 16, 2006
5. ^ Sania Mirza gets Padmashri,January 26, 2006
6. Sania Mirza Searches for Additional Base

Women's Tennis Association: Top ten female Asian singles tennis players as of 8 December2008 1. Li Na (23 ▬) 2. Zheng Jie (25 ▬) 3. Ai Sugiyama (31 ▬) 4. Tamarine Tanasugarn (37 ▬) 5. Peng Shuai (40 ▬) 6. Chan Yung Jan (74 ▬) 7. Akgul Amanmuradova (81 ▬) 8. Hsieh Su Wei (82 ▬) 9. Ayumi Morita (86 ▬) 10. Sania Mirza (101 ▬)