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Sania to
brave it at home Massa on
the move Wimbledon:
Last ‘open’ season |
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Driven away by recurring controversies, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza
has finally decided to return to the tennis circuit in India, writes M.S.Unnikrishnan
Sania Mirza
has finally realised that there is nothing like home, sweet home. And her “homecoming” decision is a welcome augury. Whatever success she has achieved abroad, whatever reel space and print columns she logged in the foreign media, Sania Mirza cannot afford to lose her moorings. Whatever she’s today is because of the projection she got at home when she was making great strides as a junior in domestic tournaments. In a recent interview to a news agency Sania said she honed her skills as a tennis player playing in every tournament in India right from her junior days and the Bangalore Open should be looked upon as an aberration. She has obviously reconsidered her decision and that means her fans might see her play at the Sunfeast Indian Open in Mumbai in the first week of October. “I have played in every tournament conducted in India for the last 10 years as I was expected to. I have done so right from the junior days and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Bangalore Open in March is an exception. It seems likely that I will play again in India this year,” Sania said. When she became the first Indian eve to play in a Grand Slam event and even stormed into third round of the Australia Open in 2004, the feat was celebrated with unbridled enthusiasm at home. When she started winning matches abroad, beating some of the top-ranked players, as her own WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) ranking shot up to hover among the best 30, Sania not only became the darling of the media, but also hit the pay dirt as no other Indian woman tennis player had before her. But her success had a flip side too. As her popularity soared and bank balance swelled, controversies also dogged Sania ceaselessly -- short skirts, bold slogans on her tops, ad shoots at a mosque in Hyderabad and the perceived insult to the Indian Tri-colour during an ad shoot in the Gulf. And in some misplaced wisdom, her advisers counselled her not to play in India to avoid further controversies. But this decision proved counter productive as her patriotism was questioned, and she started becoming less and less a talking point in the Indian media. Sania’s decision not to play in the WTA event in Bangalore was perhaps more due to her fear of defeat than a recurring injury. And of course, the frequent changes of coaches and recurring injuries also put spokes in her progress. But an escapist attitude brings in trenchant criticism and Sania belatedly realised that she would cease to be a national icon unless she wins back the trust and confidence of the Indian fans. Then there is this most vital aspect of money earned through commercials as Sania would have lost out lots of sponsors and cash if she continued to shun events in India. She also unwittingly became a party to the cold war between Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, as Mahesh, considered as Sania’s “mentor”, did not take kindly to the All India Tennis Association’s decision to pair up Sania and Leander for the mixed doubles in the Asia Games at Doha (Qatar) in 2006. And despite all the media attention she hogs, Sania Mirza is yet to win a truly big tournament, despite her first and second round wins in the Grand Slam events, and an odd WTA Tour title. Despite her talent, initial promise and potential, Sania continues to be on the margins of success, unable to win a big title, for fans back home to savour and cherish. When girls in the dozen from the erstwhile Soviet block countries swarm the tennis field across the globe and pluck titles at random, it’s time Sania Mirza did the big winning act, because there is always a limited shelf life in living on past glory.
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Massa on the move
Felipe Massa
led a Ferrari one-two to win the French Grand Prix on Sunday and take the lead in the Formula One championship for the first time. Massa’s third victory of the season, and eighth of his career, made the 27-year-old Sao Paulo driver the first Brazilian to lead the standings since the late triple champion Ayrton Senna in 1993. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen, the world champion who won at Magny-Cours last year, led from pole but was overtaken by Massa just after the halfway mark when his Ferrari slowed with a broken exhaust. Massa took the chequered flag 17.9 seconds clear of Raikkonen on an overcast and damp afternoon at the circuit in the heart of rural France. “I didn’t expect that, sometimes you need a little bit of luck,” said Massa after Ferrari’s third one-two of the season. “The championship is still 100 percent open and we still have many races to go. “It’s nice but my dream is not to lead the championship, it is to win the championship. And I'm going to do my best to achieve that.” Raikkonen could not hide his disappointment but, with his car almost stopping in the closing stages, accepted the second place. “I’ll take the eight points and it looks much better in the championship,” he told reporters. Italy’s Jarno Trulli gave Toyota, mourning the recent death of former team principal Ove Andersson, their first podium finish since the Australian Grand Prix of April, 2006, after holding off McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen in a thrilling chase to the line. The two cars came close to banging wheels on the penultimate lap as Kovalainen tried in vain to pass. “I don’t think we touched, just wheel-to-wheel like we did in go-karting,” said the Italian, whose last podium finish was with Toyota in May 2005. “I’d love to fight every race like that.” Massa, the fourth driver to lead the championship in the space of four races, now has 48 points to Kubica's 46 with Raikkonen ending a two-race barren run to move up to third place with 43. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who had been level with Massa in second place, finished 10th after starting 13th due to a 10-place penalty on the grid incurred for colliding with Raikkonen in the Canadian Gp pit lane. Meanwhile, the Force India Formula One team was finally relieved as both its drivers - Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil - achieved their target of a double finish in the French Grand Prix at the Circuit de Nevers. While Fisichella brought his VJM01 home in 18th position yesterday, Sutil was just behind in 19th following a tough 70 lap race from which only one car retired.
— Reuters
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Wimbledon: Last ‘open’ season
This
year’s Wimbledon will be the last chance for Centre Court spectators to enjoy “Singing in the Rain”. Last year fans either fried in the sun or got drenched in the rain with the arena stripped to its bare essentials for the building of a new roof. Now many spectators have cover once more and seating numbers have been boosted from 13,800 to 15,000. But they will have to wait until next year for technology finally to put an end to one of the most famous rites of the British summer -- rain stopping play at Wimbledon. From 2009, white moveable crossbeams will slide a translucent cover across the court in bad weather. No more will the superbly synchronised ground staff have to dash into their carefully choreographed routine of pulling the covers over the court as speedily as possible. No more will fans huddle disconsolately under umbrellas eating soggy sandwiches while discussing their favourite topic — the state of the weather. In 1996 pop star and ardent tennis fan Cliff Richard famously launched into an impromptu singalong with a chorus of players to raise the crowd’s spirits in yet another interminable rain break. From 2009, play on Centre Court will be delayed for a maximum of 30 minutes while the roof is trundled into place and the grass given time to acclimatise before the players return. Today, however, spectators were greeted by a sight to treasure -- sunny skies over Wimbledon for the opening of the 2008 tournament.
— Reuters
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