The controversial life of Sania Mirza
One would expect the life of a professional tennis player to revolve around tennis, without having to deal with a load of other problems. However, this is not the case with many professionals who attain fame in the game of tennis. Their life is not at all carefree and tennis is not the only thing they have to worry about; each and every move made by a player is covered by the media and is preferably made into a scandal or controversy in order to please the public – because as we all know gossip is something that catches everyone’s eye.
Out of the many tennis players with their life in the eyes of the media, Sania Mirza takes the lead. It seems like she just cannot help being controversy free. Sania Mirza is one of the best Indian tennis players; in fact she has a record of being the only professional female Indian tennis player at present. Her tennis career began to flourish when she won the Wimbledon doubles championship in 2003. She has been the first Indian female to be seeded in a Grand Slam tennis tournament and along with this she also has a record of being the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open. Mirza has made a name for India in the world of tennis, but rather than feeling some sort of pride in such an accomplishment the media has found some way or another to bring her down and to make her look bad.
The controversies began since the day Sania started playing tennis. People, especially Muslims, were not at all pleased with the tennis attire she wore while playing because it was said to reveal too much skin. Sania, being a practicing Muslim herself who prays five times a day and fasts in the month of Ramadan, had no problem in wearing such clothes, so others objecting to this did not make much sense. Wearing a mini skirt for an Indian tennis player was such a scandal and it was greatly looked down upon; but if one takes a look at the Indian film industry, nowadays the actresses hardly wear anything at all. Therefore, pointing all fingers at the tennis star was quite hypocritical of the media because all she was doing was pursuing her dream and making a name for her country in the international community.
It did not stop here. In November 2005, Sania talked about safe s*x at a conference and for doing so she was accused for corrupting the youth and being a bad example to them. Although, later on, she did say the she was absolutely against pre-marital s*x. Yet, as usual she was the culprit.
At another incident, she was seen watching a match with her bare feet resting on some higher ground pointing towards an Indian flag; for this she was blamed to have shown disrespect to her country and for this she faced possible prosecution by the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act. In her defence she said that she loved her country and that she was playing for her country and making India’s name shine in the world of tennis. Which is actually true, and it is about time that the public also realized this.
Last but not least was Sania’s wedding controversy. As soon as she decided to get married to Pakistan cricket player Shoaib Malik the media could not help but find some sort of inside story on their marriage, which they obviously did. For weeks all the news channels and newspapers were flooded with this story and the tennis star was not given a moment of peace during this time. The stories ended once she had tied the knot, it was then that the controversies finally subsided.
These scandals and controversies did not prevent Sania Mirza from following her dream and becoming a professional tennis player. However, lately it seems that she is starting to lose her charm in tennis as her tennis career has been at a downfall. Recently, she has been knocked out of Wimbledon 2010 in the first round which shows that her game is not up to the mark. Mirza must start focusing on her career rather than on petty scandals and controversies, because it is highly unlikely that the media will give her a break.
Tags: