When India slept, Sania Mirza made us proud

While India was sleeping, Sania Mirza went ahead and did the nation proud once again by winning the Wimbledon ladies’ doubles crown with Martina Hingis. In doing so, she also completed a career slam, which is winning all the four major Grand Slams at least once. This is a phenomenal achievement, something world number one Novak Djokovic has been trying to do for the past three years by winning the Roland Garros - better known as the French Open. By winning on grass, Mirza has proven that she is a versatile player, comfortable on all surfaces.

That India was dozing when Mirza beamed and held the trophy aloft is a fitting way to sum up India’s attitude not only towards Mirza, who has taken a share of preposterous flak on how her loyalties lie elsewhere because she is married to a Pakistani, but also our reception towards the achievements of Indian sportswomen in general. Mirza should have been the talk of the town even before she even left for Wimbledon. She was seeded number one in ladies doubles and number two in mixed doubles (playing with Bruno Soares she lost in the quarter-finals). That alone is proof of how she has been one of the standout doubles players in the last two years.

But no we are a nation that is more like to stay up to watch the UEFA Champions League and film award show ceremonies, which are broadcast always a week or two late, than to watch our own sportswomen achieve fantastic milestones abroad. One can be certain that if cricket was popular in Europe and in South America, we would be staying up late at night to follow the men in blue.

But this moment belongs to Sania. She used her blistering forehand to devastating effect to fight back from a set down, and trailing 5-2 in the final set. This was an intense battle – lasting two hours and 25 minutes, in which the resilience and desire of both Mirza and Hingis, who was aiming to win her first Wimbledon title in 17 years, would play a major factor in overcoming the Russian duo Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova, seeded two. It helped that Sania and Hingis had the crowd on their side, evident by the frequent motivational chants of “Come on Sania!”

Mirza and Hingis had won three games in a row and the momentum was on their side when at 5-5 all in the final set the match would be suspended because of poor light. The four players would leave the Centre Court so that the roof could be closed and stadium lights switched on. “I have a great partner to pull me through,” said Hingis of Sania in the post-match conference. Talking about that brief, tense period in the dressing room, Sania said, “All we said to each other, let them win the match... Finally I hit a forehand as hard as I could [laughs] and it came in.” Hingis and Mirza would break once again and hold their own serve to seal the match.

“Every kid that picks up a tennis racquet talks about winning the Wimbledon someday...” said Sania on winning her maiden Wimbledon title. On Monday morning, leading dailies will have photos of either Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer, celebrating their third or eighth Wimbledon title respectively, on page one. It’d be great if space was also reserved to recognise Sania’s accomplishment, a player who has been raising the standards of her game and at 28 is at the peak of her career.

When at 5-5 the players returned to Centre Court to a thunderous applause, one was witnessing one of the best atmospheres on court this week at Centre Court. “This is what we play for, this is what we work for, this energy,” said Sania later on. It would be great if India would receive Sania with the same fanfare once she returns home. And that will always be India.