As Sania Mirza got ready to hit a few practice balls at the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association courts today, a coach gushed: “All the young players are very keen on seeing you practice.” With a laugh Sania quipped: “I am sure they are.”Interacting with the young players of the CLTA during a practice session today, the Indian star said: “These young players have a lot in them. There are some strong characters. They have attitude that I can see and it is good for tennis in the country.”In the course of the evening, Sania was candid enough to say that she was enjoying the off-season break before the Hopman Cup. Her performance this year has been affected by injury induced lay-offs.“I am enjoying the off-season and I hope this will also give me time to relax ahead of the next season. At the moment, I am enjoying the break from tennis, let us put it that way.” Sania said.Coming back after a knee surgery, she shone in the US clay-court series before the US Open where she became the first Indian woman to be seeded. But then she again missed the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata due to the wrist injury and had to sit out for a couple of weeks and later suffered from a stomach muscle strain.Sania, who spent the last weekend at Goa, said she would start training at the end of this month. “This year has been a good one for me (apart from the injury-induced breaks) and I am expecting to do well in the coming year. I am hopeful of playing in the Hopman Cup in Perth to be played from December 30 and I am constantly trying to improve my performance,” she said.“The best thing that I believe has happened to me this year is that I am maintaining my rankings in the 30’s. I can’t say what lies ahead but I am hopeful of breaking into top 15. Maybe someday, I will be there,” says Mirza. She added that she was looking forward to the Beijing Olympics and wanted to win a medal there. “It will be my first Olympics and I will try hard to win,” she said.
