Tennis | Posted on Jan 22, 2009 at 03:22pm IST

Tennis experts believe Sania needs to improve

Pavitra Sazawal, CNN-IBN

New Delhi: Pinned to the back of the court, Sania Mirza scrambled hard against Nadia Petrova. Perhaps she was just a touch too slow in getting to the ball or perhaps there were too many unforced errors in an hour long match.

“Well, I don't want to give any excuses. It could be, it could be. It could be a lot of things, it could be a bit of match practice, it could be playing someone as high as number ten in the world, you know, you are not used to that obviously because you have not been playing for so long,” says Sania.

Sania was impressive in her first round win in Melbourne, finding the range with her forehands and showing sparks of the talent that carried her to the Top 30 but experts say she still has much work ahead of her.

“Young players coming through,” says former tennis player and coach Ramesh Krishnan.

“She needs to improve,” says former national champion Enrico Piperno.

Sania is ranked 108 in the world at the moment and her ranking can only improve if she plays consistently and rakes up points on the WTA computer. But she is pleased with how the year has started.

“I have already won a round at the Slam, I don’t think I can ask for something better after coming back after six months and I think the most important thing for me right now is that my wrist is feeling fine. I think to me that is much more important,” adds Sania.

Sania Mirza has already gone further than any Indian woman in the history of tennis. Now her challenge is to somehow remain injury free and give her legion of fans more to celebrate.

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