Sania Mirza - the trailblazer of women's sports in India!

When my twin daughters won the basketball tournament in their college last night, I could see the palpable energy still left in them, despite a hectic week of cycle tests and roadshow rehearsals. The high spirts that a sport could bring is unmatchable, that too when you are on the winning side!

But not everyone can win, nor at all times. Before the game, when they called up saying they are super nervous, I quickly recollected the adventurous journey of Sania Mirza, the only Indian woman to have ever won a tennis Grand Slam title!

She was 18 when she made her main draw debut at a Grand Slam playing Serena Williams! When India had produced a good number of men's tennis players since the 70s, from Vijay Amritraj to Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, it lacked a genuine female superstar. Sports bulletins were featuring only men and cricket. Then came this teen from Hyderabad. With that, even the sports columns changed with photos of bright neon tennis balls and the beautiful champion who always fought for right things!

By 2005, Sania became the first Indian to win a WTA singles title in her hometown Hyderabad! By 2007, she broke into the top 30 and reached her career-high ranking of World No. 27 in the women's singles competition.

As the six time Grand Slam champion decides to call time on her career after a successful stint, one could never forget how she broke into the male-dominated world and became a leading light for all the girls in India who dreamt of getting into sports. Women’s participation in sports reached its highest point - from a handful of female Indian athletes, the list grew to recognize Saina Nehwal, Sakshi Malik, Deepika Kumari, Dipa Karmakar, PV Sindhu, Smriti Mandhana, and Vinesh Phogat. In a chat show on YouTube called?Double Trouble with Smriti & Jemi, she says,

“When I started I used to play on tennis courts made out of cow dung. We used to have to take tetanus injections to have to play tennis in case we fell so that there won’t be any infections. That’s the sort of facilities we started with, so considering that to where we are today, we have come a long way. When I started playing tennis, the only woman athlete from India was PT Usha. There was no other person that you had heard of. Twenty five years down the line, we can now at least name 10-15 star women athletes from this country. That itself shows how much we progressed… sports for girls is becoming more of a career option"

?And her preparations for motherhood are even more inspiring!

“Believe it or not, two nights before I gave birth, I woke up at 2am. I couldn’t sleep and was very uncomfortable. Because I have a tennis court at home…I took my sister and dad to the tennis court and went and hit balls at 39 weeks and five days. I hit balls for about 25 minutes and it felt so good."

Unlike cricket the most popular sport of India, tennis honors individual achievements than a country’s holistic glory. Yet her success that gripped the nation remains forever in our heart and minds! And a lesson for my girls too!