Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza (born November 15, 1986, Mumbai, India resides in Hyderabad, India) is a professional tennis player from India.

Accolades

She has earned a large fan following in India as she is one of the very few young women from the country to have done well at the highest levels of sport. The media termed the phenomenon as Sania Mania. She reportedly earns an endorsement amount of Rs. 1.5 crore (~ U.S. $ 0.35 million) per brand per annum. In 2005, she was awarded the Arjuna award in tennis for the year 2004. She has defeated two top 10 players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova. She is a Muslim, who began playing tennis at the age of six.

Related Topics:
Media - Rs. - U.S. $ - Arjuna award - 2004 - Svetlana Kuznetsova - Nadia Petrova - Muslim

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Watching her performance in Acura Classics, legendary Pancho Segura, Ecuador-born American player who roamed the courts in the 1940s and 50s, felt that Sania's hard-hitting game resembles that of Romanian tennis legend Nastase. Segura said that Sania has a natural way of hitting the ball and she hits it hard. These qualities remind him of Ilie Nastase.

Related Topics:
Pancho Segura - Ilie Nastase

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She is currently ranked 37 in the official Sony Ericsson WTA Singles Rankings (as of Sep 26, 2005)

Related Topics:
Sony Ericsson - WTA

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sania Mirza is also the first Indian sportswoman to feature on the cover of Time magazine (South Asian edition) and is being included in its 2005 list of Asia's heroes.

Related Topics:
Time magazine - 2005 list of Asia's heroes

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~