Sania Mirza Biography, Profile, Reallife Photos, Childhood Photos, Marriage Photos, Interviews.
Country India
Residence Hyderabad, India
Date of birth November 15, 1986 (1986-11-15) (age 23)
Place of birth Mumbai, India
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 57 kg (130 lb; 9.0 st)
Turned pro 2003
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money US$ 1,561,465
Singles
Career record 219–113 (64.6%)
Career titles 1 WTA, 13 ITF
Highest ranking No. 27 (August 27, 2007)
Current ranking No. 111 (June 25, 2010)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 3r (2005, 2008)
French Open 2r (2007)
Wimbledon 2r (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009)
US Open 4r (2005)
Doubles
Sania Mirza (Urdu: ثانیہ مرزا), born November 15, 1986, is an Indian tennis player. She began her tennis career in 2003. In 2004 she was awarded the Arjuna award by the Indian Government. She is known for her powerful forehand ground strokes.
Early life
Mirza was born to Imran Mirza, a sports journalist and his wife Nasima in Mumbai, India. She was brought up in Hyderabad in a religious Shia Muslim family. Mirza began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father and other family members. She attended Nasr school in Hyderabad and later graduated from St. Mary's College.
Career
In April 2003, Mirza made her debut in the India Fed Cup team, winning all three singles matches. She also won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia.
Mirza is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 18 in doubles. She is the first Indian woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam tennis tournament. She was the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 U.S. Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli. In winning, with Mahesh Bhupathi, the mixed doubles event at the 2009 Australian Open, she became the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam title.
In 2005, Mirza reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams. On February 12, 2005, she became the first Indian woman to win a WTA singles title, defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the Hyderabad Open Finals. As of September 2006, Mirza has notched up three top 10 wins; against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis. At the 2006 Doha Asian Games, Mirza won the silver in the women's singles category and the gold in the mixed doubles partnering Leander Paes. She was also part of the Indian women's team that won the silver in the team event.
2006: Wins silver in singles and gold in mixed doubles, at the Doha Asian Games.
In 2006, Mirza was awarded a Padma Shri, India's fourth highest honor for her achievements as a tennis player.
Sania Mirza Career record
Country India
Residence Hyderabad, India
Date of birth November 15, 1986 (1986-11-15) (age 23)
Place of birth Mumbai, India
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 57 kg (130 lb; 9.0 st)
Turned pro 2003
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money US$ 1,561,465
Singles
Career record 219–113 (64.6%)
Career titles 1 WTA, 13 ITF
Highest ranking No. 27 (August 27, 2007)
Current ranking No. 111 (June 25, 2010)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 3r (2005, 2008)
French Open 2r (2007)
Wimbledon 2r (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009)
US Open 4r (2005)
Doubles
Career record 153–82
Career titles 9 WTA, 4 ITF
Highest ranking No. 18 (September 10, 2007)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 3R (2007, 2008)
French Open 3R (2006)
Wimbledon QF (2008)
US Open QF (2007)
Mixed Doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open W (2009)
French Open 2R (2007)
Wimbledon 3R (2006)
US Open QF (2007)
Medal record
Women's Tennis
Asian Games
Gold 2006 Doha Mixed Doubles
Silver 2006 Doha Singles
Silver 2006 Doha Team
Commonwealth Games
Silver 2010 Delhi Singles
Bronze 2010 Delhi Women's Doubles
Mirza had had the best results of her career during the 2007 summer hardcourt season, finishing eighth in the 2007 U.S. Open Series standings. She reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic and won the doubles event with Shahar Pe'er, and reached the quarterfinals of the Tier 1 Acura Classic.
At the 2007 U.S. Open, she reached the third round before losing to Anna Chakvetadze for the third time in recent weeks. She fared much better in the doubles, reaching the quarterfinals in mixed with her partner Mahesh Bhupathi and the quarterfinals in the women's doubles with Bethanie Mattek, including a win over number two seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur.
Mirza received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the MGR Educational and Research Institute University in Chennai on 2008-12-11. Her niece, Sonia Baig Mirza, studies there.
2008
Mirza reached the quarter-finals at Hobart as No. 6 seed. She lost to Flavia Pennetta in three sets. She reached the third round at the Australian Open as No.31 seed, where she lost to No.8 seed Venus Williams 7–6(0) 6–4, having led 5–3 in the first set. She was runner-up in the Australian Open mixed doubles partnering Mahesh Bhupathi where they lost 7–6(4), 6–4 to Sun Tiantian and Nenad Zimonjić.
She withdrew from the Pattaya Open because of a left adductor strain.
Mirza reached the 4r at Indian Wells as No.21 seed, defeating No.9 seed Shahar Pe'er en route, but lost to No.5 seed Daniela Hantuchová.
At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, as No.32 seed, Mirza was defeated by qualifier María José Martínez Sánchez, 6–0, 4–6, 9–7, having had several match points.
Mirza was eliminated in the first round of the 2008 Beijing Olympics when she retired in her match against Iveta Benešová because of a right wrist injury. Throughout 2008, Mirza was plagued by a slew of wrist injuries, requiring her to withdraw from several matches including those of the Roland Garros and US Open Grand Slams.
2009
Mirza picked up her first Grand Slam title at the 2009 Australian Open. Partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi, she won the mixed doubles title beating Nathalie Dechy (France) and Andy Ram (Israel) 6–3, 6–1 in the final in Melbourne. She then entered the Pattaya Women's Open Tournament in Bangkok where she reached the finals after a string of good performances. She lost the finals to Vera Zvonareva 7–5, 6–1. She made the semis in doubles in the same tournament.
Mirza then competed in the BNP Paribas Open where she lost in the second round to Flavia Pennetta. She then participated in the Miami Masters and lost to Mathilde Johansson of France in the first round. Mirza and her doubles partner Chia-jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei made the semifinals of the doubles event. Mirza lost in the first round of the MPS Group Championships but won the doubles title with Chuang. She lost in the first round at Roland Garros, losing to Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva. She also lost in the second round of the doubles (with Chuang) and mixed doubles (with Mahesh Bhupathi). She participated in the 2009 AEGON Classic and reached the semifinals, losing to Magdaléna Rybáriková of Slovakia 3–6,6–0,6–3, who eventually won the title.
Mirza defeated Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the first round of the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. She then fell to #28 Sorana Cîrstea in the second round. She competed in and won the Lexington Challenger event, defeating top seed Julie Coin of France in the final. She also reached the final of the ITF event in Vancouver but lost to Stéphanie Dubois of Canada. Playing in the U.S Open, she defeated Olga Govortsova in the first round but lost 6–0, 6–0 to 10th seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy. She also lost in the second round of the doubles event (partnering Francesca Schiavone) to Shahar Pe'er and Gisela Dulko.
Mirza successfully qualified for the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo but lost in the first round to Zheng Jie. Mirza won the first set but could not hold the lead, eventually losing to the Chinese player 7–5, 2–6, 3–6.
At Osaka, Mirza won her first round match against 5th seed Shahar Pe'er 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. Mirza then defeated Viktoriya Kutuzova 6–4, 6–3 and in the quarterfinal she defeated 2nd seed Marion Bartoli 6–4, 2–0 by retirement. Bartoli conceded her match and Mirza moved on to the semifinal to meet 4th seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
Personal life
The short tennis clothes she has to wear in the court has drawn criticism from some Muslim religious groups, with Mirza being a practising Muslim who prays five times a day, and fasts during Ramadan. According to one report published September 8, 2005, an unnamed Muslim scholar had issued a ruling, saying that women's tennis attire is not suited to Islam. Jamiat-ulema-e-Hind rejected rumors about disrupting her game saying that they do not stop anyone from playing, although they found female tennis players' dress code objectionable. Nevertheless, Calcutta police tightened security measures to protect her.
After Mirza spoke at a conference on safe sex in November 2005, some groups said she was detached from Islam and that she was a "corrupting influence on the youth." Mirza clarified her stance by saying that she was opposed to pre-marital sex.
In 2006, some newspapers reported that Mirza declined to play doubles with an Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er for fear of protests from India's Muslim community. However, when she teamed up with Pe'er for the 2007 WTA Tour of Stanford, California, there was no reaction.
Mirza was pictured resting her feet and showing the soles of her bare feet as she watched compatriot Rohan Bopanna play in the 2008 Hopman Cup, with an Indian flag in front. She faced possible prosecution under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act after a private citizen complained. Mirza protested, "I love my country, I wouldn't be playing Hopman Cup otherwise."
On February 4, 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.
Sania Mirza Wedding Photos
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