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Sania Mirza

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Sania Mirza (born November 15, 1986, Mumbai and now residing in Hyderabad) is a professional tennis player from India.

Career

Coached by her father Imran Mirza, Sania, a Muslim, began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. "My mother took me to a coach, who initially refused to coach me because I was too small," said Mirza, who is 5 ft. 7 in. tall. "After a month, he called my parents to say he'd never seen a player that good at such a young age." WTA interview.

She is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India - ranked 31 in singles and 109 in doubles by mid-October 2005. Her original goal had been to enter the top 100 by the end of 2005, but she revised this to entering the top 50 after good performances at the beginning of the year. As of October 2005, she also ranked 2nd among Asian women. Her year-end rank in 2004 was 206.

She became the first Indian woman to reach the 4th round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli. Having secured a wild card entry to the 2005 Australian Open Mirza reached the third round, 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.

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

Accolades

Mirza has earned a large fan following in India as she is one of the very few young women from that country to have done well at the highest levels of sport. The media termed the phenomenon Sania Mania. She reportedly has sponsorships to the tune of U.S. $ 0.35 million per brand per annum. In 2005, she was awarded the Arjuna award in tennis for the year 2004. The Government of India honoured her with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in 2006. She has defeated two top 10 players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova.

Watching her performance in Acura Classics, tennis legend Pancho Segura, Ecuador-born American player who roamed the courts in the 1940s and 50s, felt that Sania's hard-hitting game resembled that of Romanian tennis legend Ilie Nastase - Segura said that Mirza had a natural way of hitting the ball and that she hit it hard, like Nastase.

Mirza is also the first Indian sportswoman to feature on the cover of Time magazine (South Asian edition) and was included in its 2005 list of Asia's 50 heroes.

Wardrobe

Hackles have been raised in some quarters supposedly due to her attire not being in line with her Muslim background. According to a Hindustan Times report[1] published September 8, 2005, an unnamed religious scholar had issued a fatwa, saying that her attire is contrary to what is permitted by Islam. The Guardian later identified[2] the scholar as Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui, a leading cleric with the Sunni Ulema Board. The All-India Shia Muslim Personal Law Board quickly responded with a statement that called the fatwa "unnecessary and uncalled for". According to the September 10 Hindustan Times report[3], Board Chairman Mirza Mohammad Athar asserted that "Sania had committed no sin by wearing her choice of dresses on field," and had asked "clerics not to interfere in matters pertaining to sports."

When off the court Mirza wears the traditional Salwar Kameez, a nose ring and several ear rings complete her wardrobe. However, when playing tennis, her dress is typical of contemporary women tennis players.

Personalised text on her t-shirts have also sometimes attracted attention. For her post-match conference after the 2nd round of 2005 US Open her shirt asked "I'm Cute?". Following her loss to Sharapova in the 4th round she had changed this to "Don't Get in My Way". At the post-match conference for her 2005 Wimbledon Championships 2nd round defeat to Svetlana Kuznetsova the writing said: "Well-behaved women rarely make history". She has responded with exasperation to questions about her use of her clothing as a billboard.

Career Highlights

  • 2005 Japan Open: reaches the semi-finals of women's singles and doubles (partnering Shahar Peer of Israel); reaches her highest doubles ranking of 114.
  • 2005 US Open: reaches 4th round by defeating Marion Bartoli of France in straight sets (7-6(4), 6-4) before losing to top seed Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-1. Voted Best Player of the day on the 3rd day for winning her 2nd round match despite bleeding toes.
  • 2005 Forest Hills Women's Tennis Classic, New York: reaches her second WTA final but fails to win
  • 2005 Acura Classic: upsets Nadia Petrova in 2nd round but loses in the third round to Akiko Morigami of Japan (2-6,6-4,4-6). By beating the 8th-ranked Petrova, she breaks into top 50 in world rankings for the first time ever.
  • 2005 Dubai Tennis Championships: Upset reigning US Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2 in 2nd round to reach the quarter-finals
  • 2005 Hyderabad Open singles: Won the tournament defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the final and became the first Indian woman to capture a WTA singles title.
  • 2005 Australian Open singles: 3rd round: Became first Indian woman to reach the 3rd round of a Grand Slam tournament.
  • 2004 Hyderabad Open doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Liezel Huber) to become the youngest Indian to win a WTA or ATP tour title and the first Indian woman to capture a WTA tour title. entered the singles as wild card but lost in the first round to the eventual winner Nicole Pratt.
  • 2003 Wimbledon Championships Juniors doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Alisa Kleybanova) to become the youngest Indian and the first Indian woman to win a junior Grand Slam title.

Titles

Singles(1)

Performance Timeline


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She has responded with exasperation to questions about her use of her clothing as a billboard.
. At the post-match conference for her 2005 Wimbledon Championships 2nd round defeat to Svetlana Kuznetsova the writing said: "Well-behaved women rarely make history". Electronic white pages usually contain additional information, such as office location, phone number, and mailstop, and their contents are determined by a schema. Following her loss to Sharapova in the 4th round she had changed this to "Don't Get in My Way". White pages can also be an electronic information database that contains user names and their associated network addresses, in the manner of a telephone directory. For her post-match conference after the 2nd round of 2005 US Open her shirt asked "I'm Cute?". In the United States, the term white pages is commonly associated with the residential subscriber listings in the standard directories distributed by the Bell System before divestiture.

Personalised text on her t-shirts have also sometimes attracted attention. A white pages is a telephone directory listing of subscriber names, addresses, and telephone numbers. However, when playing tennis, her dress is typical of contemporary women tennis players. Federal Standard 1037C. When off the court Mirza wears the traditional Salwar Kameez, a nose ring and several ear rings complete her wardrobe. According to the September 10 Hindustan Times report[3], Board Chairman Mirza Mohammad Athar asserted that "Sania had committed no sin by wearing her choice of dresses on field," and had asked "clerics not to interfere in matters pertaining to sports.".

The All-India Shia Muslim Personal Law Board quickly responded with a statement that called the fatwa "unnecessary and uncalled for". The Guardian later identified[2] the scholar as Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui, a leading cleric with the Sunni Ulema Board. According to a Hindustan Times report[1] published September 8, 2005, an unnamed religious scholar had issued a fatwa, saying that her attire is contrary to what is permitted by Islam. Hackles have been raised in some quarters supposedly due to her attire not being in line with her Muslim background.

Mirza is also the first Indian sportswoman to feature on the cover of Time magazine (South Asian edition) and was included in its 2005 list of Asia's 50 heroes. Watching her performance in Acura Classics, tennis legend Pancho Segura, Ecuador-born American player who roamed the courts in the 1940s and 50s, felt that Sania's hard-hitting game resembled that of Romanian tennis legend Ilie Nastase - Segura said that Mirza had a natural way of hitting the ball and that she hit it hard, like Nastase. She has defeated two top 10 players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova. The Government of India honoured her with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in 2006.

In 2005, she was awarded the Arjuna award in tennis for the year 2004. $ 0.35 million per brand per annum. The media termed the phenomenon Sania Mania. She reportedly has sponsorships to the tune of U.S. Mirza has earned a large fan following in India as she is one of the very few young women from that country to have done well at the highest levels of sport.

Sania won the Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title in 2003, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. 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. Having secured a wild card entry to the 2005 Australian Open Mirza reached the third round, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams. She became the first Indian woman to reach the 4th round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli.

Her year-end rank in 2004 was 206. As of October 2005, she also ranked 2nd among Asian women. Her original goal had been to enter the top 100 by the end of 2005, but she revised this to entering the top 50 after good performances at the beginning of the year. She is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India - ranked 31 in singles and 109 in doubles by mid-October 2005.

"After a month, he called my parents to say he'd never seen a player that good at such a young age." WTA interview. tall. 7 in. "My mother took me to a coach, who initially refused to coach me because I was too small," said Mirza, who is 5 ft.

Coached by her father Imran Mirza, Sania, a Muslim, began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. . Sania Mirza (born November 15, 1986, Mumbai and now residing in Hyderabad) is a professional tennis player from India. 2003 Wimbledon Championships Juniors doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Alisa Kleybanova) to become the youngest Indian and the first Indian woman to win a junior Grand Slam title.

entered the singles as wild card but lost in the first round to the eventual winner Nicole Pratt. 2004 Hyderabad Open doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Liezel Huber) to become the youngest Indian to win a WTA or ATP tour title and the first Indian woman to capture a WTA tour title. 2005 Australian Open singles: 3rd round: Became first Indian woman to reach the 3rd round of a Grand Slam tournament. 2005 Hyderabad Open singles: Won the tournament defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the final and became the first Indian woman to capture a WTA singles title.

2005 Dubai Tennis Championships: Upset reigning US Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2 in 2nd round to reach the quarter-finals. By beating the 8th-ranked Petrova, she breaks into top 50 in world rankings for the first time ever. 2005 Acura Classic: upsets Nadia Petrova in 2nd round but loses in the third round to Akiko Morigami of Japan (2-6,6-4,4-6). 2005 Forest Hills Women's Tennis Classic, New York: reaches her second WTA final but fails to win.

Voted Best Player of the day on the 3rd day for winning her 2nd round match despite bleeding toes. 2005 US Open: reaches 4th round by defeating Marion Bartoli of France in straight sets (7-6(4), 6-4) before losing to top seed Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-1. 2005 Japan Open: reaches the semi-finals of women's singles and doubles (partnering Shahar Peer of Israel); reaches her highest doubles ranking of 114.