Amritraj hails Sania for putting tennis on front page

Heartily praising India’s tennis queen Sania Mirza, former Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj said on Wednesday that the Hyderabadi has been instrumental in taking the game of tennis to the front page of newspapers with her grand exploits on the women’s circuit.

“For me what is so wonderful is when our sports <g data-gr-id="28">gets</g> on the front pages. Sania has put our sport on the front pages and that’s what is important, not just for girls’ tennis, for tennis across the board, sports across the board especially for girls,” Amritraj told reporters here. “She has shown what you can achieve not by just winning the matches but also by being able to put us further on the map and telling the youngsters that you can do it too, that it’s not out of the question, this is the profession you can embrace and that even if you don’t make it to world class you can still get scholarships to <g data-gr-id="30">universities.</g>” 

Amritraj said Sania and her doubles partner Martina Hingis, with whom she has won back to back Grand Slam doubles crowns this year at Wimbledon and US Open, complemented each other perfectly.

“Doubles is <g data-gr-id="18">complementary</g>. The way Anand and I played - he was conservative and I was aggressive. That’s why Leander (Paes) and Mahesh (Bhupathi), who was consistent while Leander made the moves.

“Martin and Sania getting together is a perfect complementary aspect of how they play. Sania goes for broke from the back of the court with her extremely powerful forehand and Hingis is extremely deft with her <g data-gr-id="24">volleyes</g> and her racquet work at the net. Having won Grand Slam singles, it’s so unique that it gives her (Hingis) a great advantage. Talking about the Champions Tennis League, his brainchild, Amritraj said the purpose of on Wednesday’s players’ draft was to make it an even playing field for all the teams.