jayakris wrote:
I am glad to see the report anyway. How often have you seen a player who lost 16 67 get such coverage on ESPN? .. But that is why Sania's special.
Jay, I have to disagree with you here. Sania is getting the coverage not because she is special. She is getting coverage because she is a woman from India (throw in all the stereotypes about India and Indian women in general). If she were from Russia, with exactly the same game and forehand, I would bet that she would not get the same coverage or attention. In fact, of the four featured in this assessment: Tsonga, Murray, and Mirza are getting coverage because they represent a rare success in France, England, and India, respectively. Dani may be an exception in this column but if you look at it, she's perhaps representing Slovakia in the same vein (I am not too familiar with all the female Slovak players). However, I think Dani was mentioned in this column because she is one who was always marked as being destined for a top-10 rank but has largely failed to realize that potential (mostly due to mental issues in my opinion). Sania, in spite of the wide spread international coverage, was rarely spoken in those terms except by some of us in this forum and Indians in general (yes, I do remember Serena commenting on her Top-10 potential but what else do you expect her to say while on her first trip to India?).
Let me also assert here that before we talk about a Top-10 ranking for Sania, let her beat one of the Ivanovic, Williams sisters, Sharapova, Chakvetadze, Henin, or Jankovic even once. Let her reach at least the quarters of one grand slam. Heck, I'd even take a Bartoli, Vaidisova, or Hantuchova, or even Kuznetsova (again). And then, she has to do it consistently (at least 25 - 50 per cent of the meetings). Hingis, Peer, Zvonareva etc. count for much less irrespective of their ranking.
Overall, the talk about the improvements this season is no indication of her crossing the plateau she has been unable to in the past years. Add the recurrent injuries, controversies, age, constant flow of eastern European players (heck, even Chinese), and, above all, inability to produce stellar results on all surfaces to the mix, and the situation looks even more bleak.
However, hope is eternal. Plus, she has already done for India what no sportswoman has done before.