A silver and a bronze might not have constitued her original plan, but Sania Mirza chose to count her blessings rather than brood over what might have been. Addressing a packed house on Monday, she described her pendulous final against Australia's Anastasia Rodionova as "great drama, it had everything for the spectators. It could have have gone either way. When the decider goes into a tie-break, it comes down to luck and a few points".
"I'm blessed that I could win two medals for my country. It was a good tournament for me," said Sania, who competed in three events, pairing up with Rushmi Chakravarthi for a bronze and losing in the mixed doubles quarterfinals with Leander Paes.
India started the 15-medal event as favourite, but its haul was cut short to four discs - as opposed to Australia's eight - including Somdev Devvarman's prized gold in men's singles, Paes' and Mahesh Bhupathi's bronze, in addition to Mirza's two.
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"One can never assume to win in sport. We were the favourites, but tennis is like that. We should celebrate what we have achieved," said Sania.
On her choice of a partner for the mixed event, Sania said, "It's the Association that chooses partners. It's not right for me to choose between two great champions. Both of them complement my game in different ways."
Free from the hassles of injury this past week, the silver medallist felt she was shaping up well for the Asian Games, which take place in Guangzhou, China in November.
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"I have a couple of tournaments lined up before the Asian Games. My body, my wrist are feeling fine. I'm playing better and better, just need more games to get match fit. I'm headed in the right direction," said the World. No. 137, who reached a career-high ranking of 27 in August 2007.
Sania sounded a warning bell on the emergence of a newer crop of tennis players who would take up the mantle from here on.
"It is unfortunate that Nirupama (Sanjeev) had to come back from retirement for the Games. Poojashree (Venkatesha) appears to be the only young prospect. Now that so much infrastructure has been developed, I hope somebody bursts onto the scene like I did in 2005. But it's easier said than done. Men's tennis (in India) is looking better," she said.
"Let's not drag cricket into everything," she replied, when asked to react to Sachin Tendulkar's century - his 49th - against Australia in Bangalore.
"He's everybody's favourite and my congratulations to him," she added.