DOHA — Sania Mirza, the Indian tennis star who has boycotted all tournaments in India this year after a series of controversies, now says she may adopt a base away from her home country.
The 21-year-old from Hyderabad revealed this possibility at the Qatar Open after being forced to retire with cramp in the first round against Olga Govortsova of Belarussia.
A home from home appears to be the next logical stage for the besieged Sania, one of the most watched tennis players in the world after becoming the first female Indian sports star, but who finds practicing her profession in her home country intolerable.
Sania has been criticized by religious groups for wearing short skirts while competing, and she has also found it necessary to apologize for filming an advertisement near an historic mosque in Hyderabad.
She is also apparently being taken to court for alleged disrespect to the national flag during the Hopman Cup, reportedly after photographs showed her bare feet resting near the Indian tricolor.
Sania was asked if she saw any end to the ongoing problems she had at home. She replied: “I can’t really have control over that. I can’t see any point in thinking about it if there is no end to it.
“It doesn’t matter what I think. If it goes on I have to deal with it.” She was then asked if she would ever leave India for good, and she said: “At the end of the day it is my country and it has given me whatever I have.
“I don’t think I am at that stage in my head where I would leave the country. But I might perhaps get another base, though I want India as my solid base as it’s given me a lot.” Although it’s too early to speculate with certainty, it might perhaps be that she considers Dubai, which has a big Indian expatriate community. It also has excellent tennis facilities, good enough indeed for Roger Federer to use it as a training base two or three times a year.
Sania was also unlucky with her match. She retired at 4-6, 7-6, and 3-2 in the third set against Govortsova, a 19-year-old from Minsk, though she twice served for the match after appearing to have a little too much flat-hit aggression for the Belarussian.
But by then Sania was already suffering from cramp, which was affecting her service action, and later had two bouts of on court treatment, to her left calf and her left thigh.
Eventually at 30-15 in the sixth game of the third set she tried to hit a backhand, dropped her racket, sat down, held her left thigh, failed to get up, and lay on her back on the court.
When she did get up, she struggled to get to the bench and conceded the match immediately.
“I have to apologize for not finishing the match,” Sania said. “I would have done if I had been able to.”
“But the cramp started at four-all in the second set. I felt it in my left calf. It was the worst time because I had just broken her (serve) and I was serving for the match.
“Then my left hamstring cramped, then my groin, then my right calf, then my toes, and I couldn’t move. And my shoulder started cramping in the shower — but I guess it will be fine.”
