Break Point

At her long-time friend Anuja Parikh8217;s expansive Marine Drive apartment in Mumbai, Sania looks relaxed as she hops from one photo shoot to another. 8220;Every reporter asks the same questions,8221; she remarks. 8220;8216;How did it feel to play a Grand Slam? Were you nervous playing Serena? What are your strengths and weaknesses?8217; I know all the questions and answers by heart now.8221;

I ask if I can play a game of tennis with her if I promise to stay off the clicheacute;s, but she lifts up a foot to show an ankle brace; the swollen ankle she played with in Melbourne is still troubling her. So I suggest a game of pool instead8212;Anuja has a proper eight-ball table in one room8212;which, frankly, is more my pace. 8220;Oh I really can8217;t play pool,8221; says Sania. 8220;I can pose, though!8221; I drag her off to the table anyway8212;maybe I can defeat her at one ball game, at least.

Certainly, in the game with the furry yellow ball, she8217;s a fiery opponent, with a whipping forehand that sent winners right back at Serena8217;s big serves. Everyone now knows that she8217;s the first Indian woman to reach the third round of a Grand Slam, but her mantelpiece has at least 20 other junior tournament scalps8212;most notably, the 2003 Junior Wimbledon doubles trophy. Sania8217;s been playing tennis for two-thirds of her life, and it shows.

Crack! She breaks the rack solidly and pots a stripe in the middle pocket. Oo-kay8230; The thing about sporty people is that they8217;re naturally or genetically inclined to sport. In fact when Sania took up tennis at the age of six, it was from passing the courts on the way to swimming classes. What then started off as recreation, grew, with the encouragement of her ex-cricketer dad, into full-fledged competitive play by the time she hit her teens. By 2002 she was among the country8217;s top four women players in the under-16 category.

With five hours of tennis practice and another hour of working out six days a week, it would be fair to say that tennis is Sania8217;s life. 8220;I8217;m not much of a party person,8221; she says, lining up another ball. 8220;I don8217;t like dancing, I don8217;t drink or smoke8230;8221;

8220;Yeah,8221; chips in Anuja, a former tennis player and circuit buddy who8217;s right now playing Sania8217;s pool coach. 8220;In Melbourne I was like, let8217;s go out, let8217;s go out, and all she did was sit at home and drink milk.8221;

Indeed, Sania has made public how she owes everything to God and parents, does namaaz five times a day, and doesn8217;t have time for a boyfriend. But watch as she hums Shakira8217;s Underneath Your Clothes favourite musician: rapper Eminem and swears as she miscues and sends the cue ball skittering into the pocket 8220;Oh f!8230; Oops8212;you won8217;t print that, will you?8221;, and you know that, behind the perfectly scripted media answers and goody-two-tennis-shoes exterior, Sania the teenager is alive and well.

This is the side that likes to relax on Sundays with friends, movies and music, holiday in Goa and study Mass Comm at St Mary8217;s in Hyderabad 8220;though I don8217;t know if I will use the qualification8221;. But that8217;s not a facet seen by those on the other side of the net.

8220;When she hit her big forehands, the other girls used to run away,8221; laughs coach Krishna Bhupathi Mahesh8217;s father, recalling Sania8217;s blazing performances on the national junior circuits. 8220;She has an instinctive game8212;you can8217;t tell her what to do, only what not to do. In 2002 we got her a wild card in a 10,000 ITF tournament in Hyderabad, and she won it without losing a set,8221; he says.

Both Bhupathis play an important role in Sania8217;s life8212;Mahesh8217;s sports management company, Globosports, signed up Sania in 2003 after the former doubles champion saw her at work. They underwrote her costs, sent her to Boris Becker8217;s ex-coach Bob Brett for training, got her endorsement deals from Tata Tea and Atlas Cycles. And Sania8217;s justified the investment, jumping in five months from 460 to 132 in the world rankings.

Now, since her showing at the Australian Open, 18 corporates have already made endorsement offers, but Globosports says they will not be taking up more than two, to preserve Sania8217;s focus on her game.

Sania herself is pretty clear about her target8212;to break into the top 50 by the end of the year. 8220;It8217;s not going to be easy8212;her serve, fitness and strength need to improve vastly,8221; says Bhupathi Sr8212;but then, for a girl who says she can8217;t play pool, she8217;s one shot away from winning our game.

8220;Who8217;s your favourite player?8221; I ask, bumbling my corner-pocket edge and forgetting my clicheacute; ban.

8220;Steffi Graf8212;she8217;s so graceful.8221; And pow, in rolls the black in punctuation.

I quietly put the cue away. When the next Grand Slam comes around and Sania Mirza8217;s in it, I8217;m brushing up on my chess.