In tennis, rarely does a player look forward to the Olympics. The Grand Slams, the Masters series, the Davis Cups and the Fed Cups are the most coveted of titles.
But for Indian fans, tennis carries medal prospects, and in this respect, the most important person happens to be the World No.1 women’s doubles player Sania Mirza.
The 29-year-old, who was here for an adidas event, spoke on the Olympics and more.
Excerpts:
Her partner for Rio
I am going to wait. Four months is a long time. Who knows who is going to be healthy and who won’t. The most important thing is that the best team should be sent. I don’t think now is the right time to make that call.
Whether there will be more emphasis on Olympics this year
I have about 11 weeks before Roland Garros and about 14 before the Olympics. We focus on Doha, Indian Wells and Miami (at the moment); that’s how a tennis player’s life goes. We don’t have the luxury to focus on something that is to happen four months from today.
But when we get there, rest assured we are going to try and win a medal, like every other time.
How the partnership with Martina Hingis is different from that with others
It is more of a business relationship. We had played great matches against each other and finished off our careers at 2-2. We have great mutual respect. So we came together.
We weren’t really friends; just acquaintances and competitors. Over time, we got to know each other very well. We don’t think we are that much better than anybody else. But we play the best under pressure.
Usually in partnerships, there is one player who plays better. Here, I feel, both of us play very well under pressure, and that’s what makes it difficult to beat us.
Their 40-match winning streak
I think we were on 28, in Brisbane; that was the first streak and everyone was talking about it. It’s tough because we try not to think about it, but we keep getting asked.
We can’t really chase numbers. That’s not how you play tennis. Or any sport.
We are aware that the next number is 44 (Jana Novotna & Helena Sukova), and we are aware that we can achieve that in Doha. But having said that it’s a tough tournament and there are no guarantees in sport.
