Sania Mirza eyeing Olympics 2012 – Tennis News
It is an emphatic comeback for the Indian tennis ace, Sania Mirza, as she broke in the Top-10 doubles rankings in the world after a semi-final finish in the year’s first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open. She is
ranked seventh in the doubles ranking and now Mirza sets her sight at the Olympics, desiring to land in London with a direct entry instead of asking for wildcard from the authorities.
She was interviewed by the media representatives of Times of India and she stated, “Almost a decade of professional tennis has taken its toll on my body. Three surgeries in the last four years haven't helped either. My body
may not be able to cope with the load of playing both singles and doubles in the future.”
Mirza was confident that that she will make it to Olympics without any wildcard and stated, “As this is the Olympic year, where qualifying for London is a top priority, I may need to focus on keeping my doubles ranking in
top-10 on 11th June, which is the cut-off date for qualification.”
She was a terrific performer and such a remarkable comeback wasn’t expected of her. She teamed up with the Russian prolific tennis ace, Elena Vesnina. They started their year campaign at the ASB Classic tournament in Auckland
and passed the first two rounds before they were ousted by the team of Germany beauty queen, Julia Georges, and doubles specialist, Flavia Pennetta.
They featured in the Australian Open and cruised into the semis losing just a single set on their way. They met the reigning Australian Open champions, the Russia duo of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva. They fought
well and extended the match to three sets but couldn’t deliver the finishing shots that could have earned them the spot in the grand finale.
Sania is struggling to maintain her ranking in the singles category slipping to the 111th spot. She started as world number 106 but her dismal run in the Australian Open singles category declined her
rankings. She will feature in the singles tournaments in Pattaya, Doha and Dubai in the following weeks. She needs to break into Top-64 players of the world before the midst of June this year in order to have a direct entry into the Olympics 2012, singles
category. Otherwise Indian Tennis federation will have to ask for the wildcard for their tennis ace.
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