CHENNAI: When Sania Mirza announced her return to the circuit at the end of last year, she routinely had to answer one question. “What was your primary motivating factor to come back?” The former doubles World No 1, when this paper put the same query to her, said: “I still have some tennis left in me. Anything that happens after this in my career will be a plus, a bonus. I also felt I had a responsibility as a woman that some people looked up to sort of show or prove that just because you have a baby, ‘it’s not the end of the world’,”.
On Saturday, she proved her point. In a must-win rubber against Indonesia in the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1 tie, Ankita Raina and Saina defeated Priska Nugroho and Aldila Sutjiadi 7-6 (4), 6-0. The win was perhaps one of the most important of Sania’s career for it helped India advance to the Fed Cup playoffs for the first time. One only needed to read her quotes on the official website to grasp its significance. “I think we need to exhale and enjoy this moment too, because this is a huge step for women’s tennis in India,” she told the competition’s organisers. “We are coming from a country where women’s tennis was redundant until maybe 15 years ago.”