Wimbledon: Sania & Pavic roll into semi-finals
Wimbledon: Sania Mirza is making her farewell year on the tennis tour a memorable one. On Monday night, the Indian superstar turned the clock back with a solid performance in the company of Mate Pavic to enter the mixed doubles semi-finals at The Championships.
The 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win against Gabriela Dabrowski and John Peers was smooth as silk. Showing great chemistry on court, Sania and Pavic played tennis of a high order.
Mixed doubles is all about gelling well. It is not necessary that both the players need to have huge strokes. More important, the pair needs to make the right 'çalls' and show chemistry.
Call it communication or chatting on court, Sania and Pavic have shown the hunger to do well this time. The record before this was dubious, as Sania had never crossed the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
After a walkover on Sunday, to be on court a day later was pleasing to watch. Sania has been spending a lot of time on keeping herself fit. To say that she has grown old would be improper. She realises her body needs more fine-tuning, which is spending time on her fitness and using the physios and professional sports masseurs to keep her going.
There are many players, who, in their farewell tour, have tended to take it easy. No, not Sania. She is dead serious about putting her heart and soul into her training and on court. After all, having being the World No.1 in doubles, she does not want to sign off from the tennis tour on a low.
Speaking to Millenium Post, Sania spoke of how she has been on the tour for long. To be away from home, to be away from her son Izhaan and continue tennis is not easy. The mom in Sania craves for her to be with Izhaan. However, it is not possible for her to take the young boy around to all the tennis venues. Dad Imran Mirza provides her the right company, which he has been doing for decades now. Before this, Sania's mother Nasima Mirza would be with Sania at plenty of tournaments.
Being a mom and a tennis player is not easy. When Sania announced her retirement at the Australian Open and said this would be her last year, she left fans weeping.
However, each match she plays, each time she is on court, Sania is there to remind her fans she will keep fighting till the last day. Wimbledon is special. "I mean, I cannot keep going on. I have achieved plenty as a tennis player and I suppose retirement means I will get more time to spend with the family," said Sania.' Her campaign at Wimbldon is on. But after this, she will take a few weeks break and then give it her best shot at the US Open. For all working ladies and moms out there in India, Sania is a role model in many ways. From being the teen star in singles to making a shift to doubles and then returning to tennis after maternity leave, Sania has shown a great work ethic.
Perhaps, that is why she is still so popular at Wimbledon, having achieved so much in her career and striving hard even in the closing months of her career.
