The irresistible Sania Mirza

There is something about Sania Mirza that is irresistible for sports journalists and fans around the world. She has a fabulous multilayered story: of short skirts and fatwas, being India’s daughter, Pakistan’s daughter-in-law, and a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador. Then there is the woman herself—an Indian among the top players in world tennis, already a rarity—who shines with confidence and never shies away from articulating her thoughts. She is an icon; every move she makes is scrutinized through a social and political lens.

Now, can we get back to the part where she is one of the best doubles players in the world?

“When I am on the tennis court, I only focus on the ball and in trying to win,” says Mirza in an email interview after winning the women’s doubles at Wimbledon last week. “Everything else is inconsequential.”

It is that purity of pursuit, the ability to isolate herself in the moment, that came to the fore with her doubles victory at Wimbledon. At 6-4 in the second-set tiebreak, when she and Martina Hingis were down a set, she let rip a forehand down the line to get the team on level terms. It was that solidity from the back court, combined with Hingis’ strategic brilliance, that pulled them past a 2-5 deficit in the third set.

“The confidence comes from the faith and trust we have in each other. We get along really well on and off the court and when we were down 2-5, we kept telling each other that it was just a question of getting one break of serve and then we could turn the tables on our opponents,” she recalls.

In that hallowed atmosphere of the Wimbledon Centre Court, with all the distractions vacuum-sealed by the roof, the top two doubles players in the world had found a way to win. Top seeds Mirza-Hingis beat their Russian rivals 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-5 to complete a stirring comeback, one that even had Roger Federer cheering through Twitter.

“Yes, it was a fairy-tale finish to the Wimbledon 2015 for me, and in many ways this was the perfect culmination of all the efforts we had put in for all these years,” says Mirza. Twelve years earlier, in 2003, SW19 is where it had all started for the Indian, when she won the girls’ doubles title with Alisa Kleybanova. “It has been a long journey of determination and excitement, sweat and blood, ups and downs, but one that me and my team have thoroughly enjoyed.

“I feel I have now achieved virtually everything that I had ever set myself to do. I have won a title at all the four Grand Slam centres, achieved the No.1 ranking in the world (in April) and won a women’s doubles title at Wimbledon,” she says.

With fragile joints and multiple surgeries forcing her out of the singles game, the Indian has made a committed and confident switch to doubles. She claimed her first major with Mahesh Bhupathi at the 2009 Australian Open and has followed it up with mixed doubles titles at the 2012 French Open, with Bhupathi, and the 2014 US Open, with Bruno Soares. While it may not be as taxing on the body as singles, the doubles game is an art in itself.

“There are two things that make Sania such a good doubles player,” says former Indian player Nirupama Sanjeev on phone from her home in Florida, US. “Sania’s forehand basically sets up the point. That’s why she needs a partner who is good at the net. Secondly, she never wilts under pressure. Her partner can always bank on her to pull them through, which is a huge attribute. She has nerves of steel.”

Sanjeev, 38, was the first lady of Indian tennis before Mirza came along. She was the first Indian woman to win a round at a Grand Slam when she went through to the second round of the 1998 Australian Open. “She has set the bar so high now for the coming generation of Indian players,” Sanjeev says. “The one thing about Sania is that she always dreamt of much bigger things. She always had very high expectations of herself. But to dream of it and actually fulfil those dreams takes a lot of time and determination. I wish I had had someone like her to look up to when I was growing up.”

Mirza remains an inspiration, but her celebrity status also makes her an easy target for sexist attacks. Last month, during a chat at the Live @ Wimbledon studio, Mirza summed up her career and her love-hate relationship with her audience: “I don’t know how to not play with pressure. I’ve been the only one who’s made the breakthrough first in singles, and now obviously in doubles. When they have this one person who is performing well, people like negativity, sometimes it sells. You just have to keep your head down and win tennis matches.”