Sania Mirza bows out of Wimbledon 2013

It was yet another year of disappointment for the Asian contingent in this 2013’s Wimbledon Tennis tournament as the final member, Sania Mirza, bowed out at the semi-final stage in the mixed doubles.

The tournament started with high hopes in the South Asian corner. With the likes Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Aisam ul Haq Qureshi, Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi all competing.
Bhupathi ended his ATP career with a first round defeat in the mixed doubles. Bopanna and his French partner, Edouard Roger-Vasselin lost in the men’s doubles semi-final match. This is a marked improvement for Bopanna however, having only reached the quarter-final in 2010.
Leander Paes sadly also reached the same fate with his Czech partner, Radek Stepanek. They lost the five-set match to Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo.
Tenth seeds Aisam from Pakistan and Cara Black from Zimbabwe also lost their mixed doubles match in the first round. Aisam lost both the doubles and mixed doubles matches in the third round.
Sania Mirza holds the record for India’s highest ranked player for over a decade and was also awarded a Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest honour for her achievements as a tennis player. She came into the tournament after her winning doubles success at the Dubai Duty Free tournament in February 2013.
Born in 1986, Sania started playing at the age of six before turning professional in 2003 and winning the girls doubles tournament at Wimbledon.
It wasn’t until the 2009 Australian Open that Mirza won her first senior mixed doubles championship partnering Mahesh Bhupathi before going on to win the same championship again in 2012.
Mirza has had her fair share of controversial moments. In 2008, whilst watching compatriot Rohan Bopanna in the Hopman Cup she was pictured resting her feet and showing the soles of her bare feet with an Indian flag in front. She faced possible prosecution after a private citizen complained. Mirza protested: “I love my country, I wouldn’t be playing Hopman Cup otherwise.”
In February 2008, Mirza said that she would stop appearing in tennis tournaments held in India, starting with the 2008 Bangalore Open the following month, citing the series of controversies and upon advice by her manager. But later in 2010, she was back competing in Delhi in the Commonwealth games without any distractions.
Sania also hit headlines again when she married Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik in 2010. The online attention the wedding received made Mirza the most searched woman tennis player and most searched Indian sportsperson in 2010.
The sports couple have much to share, including a competitive streak, and a desire to win. Talking about Shoaib’s recent Champions Trophy 2013, Sania said:

“It was nice to be there for my husband, watching him play and preparing for a match. You take a backseat, put things together and just be there for the other person. It helps that I’m also a competitive sportsperson, we can relate to circumstances, situations, highs and lows.”

So Wimbledon 2013 started for the Second seeds Mirza and her mixed doubles partner Horia Tecau with a bye into the Second round. In Round two they played the non-seeded German duo M Emmrich and J Goerges who they overcame by winning two sets to love, 6-3 6-4.
In Round three they faced non seeds Eric Butorac (USA) and Alize Cornet (FRA) and it was business as usual for the number two seeds as they soared to a 6-1 first set win followed by a close second set which gave Mirza and Tecau some tests before winning the set 7-5 and the game 2-0.
Quarter Finals beckoned for the duo and they faced the number eight seeds Daniel Nestor (CAN) and Kristina Mladenovic (FRA). This was the first time the duo had come across some serious opposition and it proved tough.
The first set was a struggle and both sets of payers fought well and it went serve by serve before going into a tie break at 6-6 where Nestor and Mladenovic took the set on a 7-5 tie break (7-6). This was the first set lost by Mirza and Tecau and now had to win two sets on the bounce to reach the semi-finals.
The second set went according to serve until Mirza broke serve but only to lose the initiative and couldn’t make any further inroads and it was locked at 6-6 going into a tie break, for one duo it was for the semi-final whilst the other were playing to stay in the tournament.
The pressure was being felt by Mirza and caused her to make a number of unforced errors in the second tie breaker which would ultimately cost them the match, this was too much for Mirza/Tecau to claw back and lost the set 7-5 on a tie break (7-6) and hence sealed their fate and out went the number two seeds: 7-6 7-6.
Mirza’s service also was a problem as Nestor repeatedly attacked her second serve while 20-year-old Mladenovic’s net play was far better than her much senior Indian opponent.
What started off with plenty of potential for the Indian players turned out to be disappointing tournament in the end, the phrase ‘so near yet so far’ comes to mind and not to forget arrivederci for Bhupatti. But a Semi Final and Quarter Final spot gained or should it have been championships won!