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Home  » Sports » No more ankle pain for Sania

No more ankle pain for Sania

Source: PTI
June 19, 2005 17:17 IST
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Sania Mirza said she is no more bothered by an ankle injury that has troubled for most of the year and is prepared to give her best shot at Wimbledon starting in London on Monday.

The teenager had made a great start to the year, reaching the third round in Australian Open, before the injury troubled her in several tournaments and she struggled to live up to the expectations of tennis lovers.

"The ankle is actually fine. It's not been bothering me. I've been strengthening it for the past few weeks so it's been fine," Sania said.

"It's just a question of getting match-fit, I guess. Otherwise I'm feeling good and able to hit all my shots. It's not really a worry, no."

Sania said she was not pinning too much hopes on her performance at the Wimbledon, where she would be playing for the first time at the senior level.

"It's my first Wimbledon and there are hopefully many more to come. I just want to go out there and give my best and give whatever I have.

"It's my third Grand Slam of the year and obviously there is no pressure on me to win so I just want to go out there and give my best in the first match," she told Zee Sports in an interview.

The girl from Hyderabad said she was quite satisfied with her performance in the run up to the Grand Slam.

"It's pretty good, I had a good match the other day (in the Tier-II meet in Eastbourne), just bad luck that I had five match points and just couldn't convert any one of them.

"But I am just coming back after an injury so I'm feeling good. I like the grass and I'm playing alright, hopefully things will work-out at Wimbledon."

Sania, ranked 72 in the world, is drawn to play Akiko Morigami of Japan in the first round of the event.

"I have been going there (Wimbledon) for the past four years. I've been playing juniors, having won the junior doubles in 2003.

"I like playing on grass, I like playing on fast surfaces. I'm just looking forward to it because it's my first women's singles over there and I want to see how I fare.

"It's been a great year for me. I started off pretty well from January from the Australian Open. I hope things go the same way."

On crowd expectations back home, Sania said her fans were probably expecting too much from her.

"There is a lot of pressure and there is a lot of expectation. Probably they expect much more than what I can really do," she said.

"But when you achieve something and you are one of the very few to achieve from that country, I guess you have to go through that pressure.

"I just want to go out there and give my best, as long as I know I am giving my 120 per cent every time I walk out on court, I don't think winning and losing is that important."

But at the same time she asked her fans to support her.

The Indian, who was knocked out in the first round of the French Open, said she preferred grass over clay courts.

"Well, actually a lot of clay is only in Europe. Clay is not one of my favourite surfaces obviously. But I try and play more tournaments on hard.

"We play on hard almost throughout the year, except that period before the French. Playing on grass is easier for me than playing on clay, so I guess I'm looking forward to it."

On her plans for the year, she said "I'm going to be home for a couple of weeks and then we leave for the United States. I'll probably be there for a couple of months and probably play a little bit, rest a little bit and then finish off with the US Open."

Sania's mother Naseema also said that they were looking for a travelling coach for the player.

"It is tough to watch her play when you are alone with her on the circuit. You need some more support from somebody else maybe help with a travelling coach or something, we are looking for one.

"The level what she is playing right now, she's just playing 25 k or 50 k level, now she has come to the WTA level where she needs a travelling coach with her so that he can guide her step by step as to how to plan the game, how to play with the opponent, which till now we were handling but WTA kind of thing we cannot handle right now."

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