The title of this post is taken from one of my favorite tracks "build you up" by Nelly Furtado. I couldn't think of better words to describe thhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gife state of two of the most iconic female public figures of our country, at least according to me. Sania Mirza and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Hence I was mildly (and pleasantly) surprised to see Sania being included in the Teachers' Achievement Awards Club on Star World.
Most people in India would know who Sania Mirza is, what her achievements are. But then, why this kolaveri against her, I say? People love to hate her, Now. That was not the case when she first burst on the scene winning the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title. She was still relatively unknown then, but it was a HUGE deal, that a girl from India was even playing tennis on the international level, leave alone winning stuff!! Till then, Paes and Bhupati were the only contemporary tennis players people and the media cared about. Come year 2005, and she was all over the place! Recipient of a wildcard at the Australian Open, owing to winning a prestigious ITF tournament the previous year, Sania surprised the world by reaching the third round, and giving a good fight to Serena Williams, no one less, before going down. She had announced her arrival on the big stage in grand style, even though she had already done India proud much before, winning a host of event in the Afro Asian games and mixed doubles at the 2002 Asian games.
2005 was a star marked year, full of iconic landmarks for her, being the first Indian woman to win a WTA tournament, shocking top 5 players like Svetlana Kuznetsova, whom she again encountered in one of the most engaging matches I have ever seen, on Wimbledon center court in 2nd round, before losing 7-5 in the final set. A leading expert who was commentating said, "Sania Mirza, remember that name. We're gonna hear a lot more of it". In that one year, where she broke her own record to become the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round at a grand slam at the U.S. Open, she went from being in the top 300 to the 31st ranked player in the world. This was a remarkable breakthrough year by any standards, earning her the "WTA newcomer of the year award".
2006 followed, with 3 medals including a silver at the Doha Asian games, top - 10 wins. 2007 saw her ranking peak at 27 in the world, and from playing qualifying and wildcards, she went on to being seeded at the Grand Slams. From then onwards, there was a sort of familiar pattern - occasionally showing up in finals, semifinals, or quarterfinals of tournaments, bowing out in the first or second round at most of them, and increasingly better performances in doubles events. Though she maintained a solid enough level to remain in the top 100. It was only in 2010, her worst year possibly on the tour, when she ended the tear outside the top 100 (166) since 2004. This is no fluke or minor achievement. Sustaining at the top level in tennis is no cakewalk. So many high profile cases of burnouts - Jelena Dokic, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters - to name a few. This year, she has again shown some promise, with a top 10 ranking in doubles and making it to main draws of major tournaments.
But once the downfall began, people got bored. So did the media. OF course, there was no story in the first and second round appearances. So, there was a shift in the target. Always in the news for her "bold" image, she was hounded over the flag issue, her tee - shirts with quotes, her nose ring, her dwindling performances. So at a time when India was hosting two WTA tournaments - Sunfeast open, and the one in H'bad/Banglaore, she decided to quit playing tennis in India. Could you blame her? People saw the dwindling results, and instantly attributed them to her public appearances in fashion shows, television ads and other endorsement deals. Comments on youtube videos, or any article on her on the Internet, went from being rude to downright derogatory and insulting. Now, people Loved to hate her. These were the very people who filled a 5000 capacity stadium, with additional 15000 outside - 80% of them not even knowing what tennis is all about, when she won the WTA tournament in H'bad. They were telling her to quit tennis and join Bollywood, because that was where she belonged. Is it her fault or ours? A testimony to that would be a plain google search of her name, and the suggestions, reflecting the top searches would throw up words like Sania Mirza hot, blue film, and worse. It wasn't she who was going to Bollywood. It was we who wanted to see her there.
In a nation where the only understanding of tennis was that it got us the first, and the only one, solo event medal at the Olympics through Leander Paes, it was the advent of Sania Mirza on the scene that took it to new heights. I am not talking of the previous generation - the Amritraj brothers, Ramakrishnan and others.For this generation, sure, Paes and Bhupati were well known and respected, but their exploits did not inspire youngsters to pick up tennis rackets. Her's did. Parents did not start enrolling their 3, 4 year old kids in Tennis Academies till she came along. She was the first major female sports star of our country, well at least after P.T. Usha. She introduced India to tennis. Which is a big, big achievement. I do believe that her contribution to tennis in India has been the greatest of all, as she made it popular. No one saw or cared to the see the injuries behind the downfall. As soon as the results went down, she was immediately branded as a publicity seeking, money minded celebrity with no talent - a girl whose forehand has been constantly rated as one of the best by her peers including the Williams sisters.
No one cared for the fact that she went through debilitating injuries to her wrist and had 3 surgeries before she was even 25. She was forced to stay out for months, in 2008 and 2010 due to her surgeries. In her own words, she could not even hold a fork to eat, leave alone a tennis racket. The long lay offs, and the longer time it took to prepare for comebacks, led to a fall in rankings - and respect of the public. The final straw was her marrying Pakistani cricketer, Shoaib Malik. I was dismayed to read comments like traitor, and other unmentionable things by those very Indians who hailed her as the future of sport in our country. The brand endorsements were called distractions. No one gave a thought to the fact that it was those that paid for the constant traveling, training and other expenses in the most expensive sport, in absence of any financial support from government agencies. It's sad to see that on her profile pages or match reports, it is people from other nations who are cheering her on, showing belief in her abilities while most of the desi comments are about her marriage, being a traitor, playing for Pakistan, or doing advertisements.
Being an athlete in India is a double - edged sword. You will be treated like a God as long as you are winning, but your houses would be stoned if you lose. Even cricketers go through it. But No one has had it as bad as Sania, who through no fault of her own, has lost respect. But she still soldiers on, back in the top 65 for a while and in the top 100 in 2011, ready to battle it out in 2012 yet again,which hopefully, remains injury free and sees some better results.
First we showered her with a demi-god status and later pelted abuses, fatwas and insults. But she has braved it all, and deserves respect all the more for defying the extremists who ostracized her for wearing short clothes (demand of her sport), marrying a Pakistani national, playing doubles with an Israeli national. People say that she got the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, and Arjuna award too early. But according to me, there could not have been a more deserving candidate for these honours, than this middle class girl from a minority community, who introduced a cricket crazy nation to tennis, inspired youngsters ad gave them hope that an Indian too can compete at the top level and rub shoulders with the Williamses of the world, and beat the likes of Martina Hingis. So even if she may never win a grand slam, or another WTA tournament for that matter, she has, I think already done enough to be a path breaker, an icon to look up to and at least be respected, and not insulted on public forums. So hopefully, 2012 will be an exercise in reclamation for her, reclamation of the respect and her rightful place in the sporting elite of our country.
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