Indian women's tennis has been weakened so much in recent times that it is not just Sania Mirza who is an automatic choice for the Commonwealth Games, but the whole team selects itself.
The All India Tennis Association (AITA) may have deferred the announcement of the team by a week, but there is nothing to announce, as there is hardly any debate on the choice.
From the golden time when the country hosted two WTA Tour events, apart from a clutch of ITF tournaments including Challengers for women in a season, there has not been a single international women's tennis tournament held in this country this year, thanks perhaps to the Commonwealth Games!
Understandably a lot of players have lost their enthusiasm, despite the government providing air tickets for competing in tournaments abroad, and drifted away from the game.
With two players who had donned the country's colours successfully in the last Asian Games and the Olympics in Beijing, Shikha Uberoi and Sunitha Rao, becoming ineligible since they don't hold Indian passports, the cupboard is bare.
The Bhambri sisters, Ankita and Sanaa, have also opted to step aside. While Ankita stopped competing some time back, rather abruptly, Sanaa did not report for the ongoing selection camp in Pune.
With the stout-hearted Isha Lakhani also going out of the reckoning for personal reasons, there is no choice to make for the selectors, as was the case in the men's team.
The 20-year-old Poojashree Venkatesh has been doing very well in singles and doubles in recent tournaments, though she could not recapture the magic of winning four tournaments in a short spell that she had accomplished around the same time last year.
Poojashree all set
With the second best ranking after Sania, at 387, the towering Poojashree looks all set to be the second singles player in the team.
The 32-year-old Rushmi Chakravarthi has also been doing very well, like reaching the singles quarterfinals of the $25,000 tournament in Thailand as a qualifier before her arrival for the Pune camp. She has also been quite solid with her overall game and fitness.
With just four players to be named for the Indian team for the Commonwealth Games, the option has to be exercised between Nirupama Sanjeev and Tara Iyer, both of whom are returning to the game and based in the US.
While the 22-year-old Tara Iyer has not played a professional match since February 2008, the 33-year-old Nirupama Sanjeev has been fighting her way back to form in recent tournaments in the US and China.
From the time she won a round in the $50,000 ITF tournament in Pune last year, Nirupama, ranked 134 in her prime, has not added to the 10 WTA points, but has reportedly been working on her fitness too.
The main reason for calling Nirupama is to utilise her experience for doubles and mixed doubles events, where craft counts more than firepower. In such a scenario, it may be difficult to deny her a berth.
Tara may not have much to complain, as she has not been the same player who won back to back $10,000 ITF tournaments in Delhi and Noida around the same time in 2007.
She notched up a 2-8 win-loss record afterwards when she attempted the Challenger circuit and the odd WTA Tour event.
Injury and indifferent form forced her to focus on her education in the US, and it is a surprise that Tara has found the urge to seek a place in the Indian squad, though she does not have anything to stake her claim.
No wonder Indian women's tennis begins and ends with the 23-year-old Sania Mirza, no matter whether she wins or loses in the professional circuit.
