Sania Mirza - General Discussion of tennis matters

[gbelday]

Sania has slipped to 91st rank in singles this week . It will be very very difficult for her to come back into top 50 again

I am not sure why you think that Sandeep! She should be back up there in top 50 pretty soon! I just hope she waits for the wrist to heal completely before coming back though. There are so many players (Li Na for one) who came back to their top after being down due to injuries! Sania should be no different. I am sure she'll come back more hungrier!!

[BSharma]

Sania's revisit to her old hunting grounds will depend on the amount of fire she has in her belly. I have not seen anything that tells me that she does not have the motivation to reclaim a top 40 rank.

[prasen9]

It all depends upon how much of her wrist she gets back. If she is fit, she will get back to top-30 and even scale top-25. If she does not get her forehand back, then it will be a struggle moving up and down.

[BSharma]

It all depends upon how much of her wrist she gets back...

My comments were based on assumption that her wrist will heal properly.

Every time there is a major injury related setback, it takes a big toll on the players to get back to their old stomping ground.

[BSharma]

It appears that Yuvraj advised Sania to use physiotherapist Jatin Chaudhry's expertise in "South Korean science of spiral therapy, which is the regeneration of body cells" and she had positive results.

I believe in miracles: Sania Mirza

[suresh]

Bhushan,

What on earth is spiral therapy? Needles in the body -- sounds a bit like acupuncture. The whole business sound odd, to say the least.

Suresh

[BSharma]

Bhushan,

What on earth is spiral therapy? Needles in the body -- sounds a bit like acupuncture. The whole business sound odd, to say the least.

Suresh

I have no idea about spiral therapy and I did try to search for it on the Internet without much luck.

It is difficult to argue against success and if Sania's wrist got better after doing spiral therapy, it is all that counts.

I have trouble understanding how scar tissue related problem could go away with something similar to acupuncture, but I am not an expert on acupuncture also. I sometimes feel at odds with Sania's statements where she will say that her arm or leg hurt her immensely and she could not do simple tasks and then go out and play tennis the next day after taking some pain pills (not a recent event but in the past). I do not doubt her that she has injury-related pains (which pro tennis player does not have it off and on?) yet I rarely read about other tennis players talk so often about "unable to lift a fork" or "push a button on the treadmill" when they get injured.

I am happy that Sania's injury has healed and that she is back on the court playing tennis. I hope and pray that she has a great 2009.

[Prashant]

I do not doubt her that she has injury-related pains (which pro tennis player does not have it off and on?) yet I rarely read about other tennis players talk so often about "unable to lift a fork" or "push a button on the treadmill" when they get injured.

Hmm. I have no medical knowledge, but that sounds to me more like some kind of fatigue illness. Rocco Baldelli (baseball player for the Tampa Bay Rays) has a condition where he has occasionally been unable to do really simple things, but at other times is able to play pro baseball.

[BSharma]

Hmm. I have no medical knowledge, but that sounds to me more like some kind of fatigue illness. Rocco Baldelli (baseball player for the Tampa Bay Rays) has a condition where he has occasionally been unable to do really simple things, but at other times is able to play pro baseball.

I do not know what has caused Sania to have severe pain in her wrist other than what I have read in the report in Times of India, but it is not the same illness that Baldelli has and I hope and pray that she does not get the type of illness that Baldelli is currently suffering. Baldelli has some sort of mitochondrial myopathy that leaves him very tired after a brief work out. All of his major muscle groups are involved in this illness where as Sania's illness is limited to her wrist.

Baldelli is able to do simple tasks and gets very fatigued after he plays baseball.

WFTS Baldelli report "erroneous" Scroll down to read more about his illness.

[vparam]

I can't believe there is no news to report concerning Sania's rehab since late October. Is there any sort of timetable as to when she might return to the tour?

[PKBasu]

Yes, it would be nice to get some updates. Perhaps she is sitting out the entire 6-month period (until mid-January? mid-Feb if Olympics count as tournament play) in order to be able to play for a few months with her injury-protected ranking (which should be close to #50). We all know in retrospect that she came back too quickly in order to participate in the Olympics (an act of high patriotism that she should have received much more credit for). Now it is best to give that right wrist (her key strength, after all) sufficient rest and rehab before coming back in full form and fitness. But it would be nice to hear from Team Sania directly...

[jaydeep]

As per report, Sania is eyeing a comeback at January’s Classic tennis tournament in Hong Kong representing Asia.

Sania - "It is a big honour to represent Asia. It is great to be a part of such a large field, where you have players like (Jelena) Jankovic and (Maria) Sharapova. But we still have two-and-a-half months to go and it is very long period in tennis,"

And also as per the Daily Times, Due to lack of sponsors Sania Mirza proposed her Pakistan tour, which scheduled in November or December this year, has reportedly been postponed, this tour was jointly planned by the PTF (Pakistan Tennis Federation) and the Indian Tennis Federation to promote tennis and improve bilateral relations between the two federations.

Sania has been practising for the last couple of weeks. After starting with 15 minutes of training, she has been practising for 90 minutes per session. “I’ve been practising for two week. Things are looking good. By God’s grace, my wrist seems to be in good shape,’’ says Sania, going on to add that sitting at home and not playing tennis is extremely difficult. “It’s not easy, but having good family support around me, has made my forced break comfortable.’’ Sania has been to the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association complex for a few practice sessions with Radhika Tulpule, but she will concentrate on recovery exercises for the next couple of months. “I’m not looking at tournaments right now. I’m concentrating on recovery exercises. I’m working hard on my physical training sessions.’’

Sania Mirza winds up training at Delhi on a positive note

[sameerph]

Sania, Mahesh & Rohan will come together for 3 week training camp in Bangalore from Dec. 1 .

Sania, Bhupathi, Bopanna come together for camp

[sameerph]

Sania, Mahesh & Rohan begin their training at bangalore -

From TOI e-paper-

PRE-SEASON CAMP - Stars begin to step up pace
Prajwal Hegde I TNN

Bangalore: Indian stars Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna stepped up the heat at an elite pre-season camp in Bangalore when they donned boxing gloves and pulled off some power-packed punches at the Tennis Village’s state-of-theart gymnasium.

The three-week camp, conducted under the watchful gaze of South African fitness trainer Shayamal Vallabhjee, began on Monday. The first week comprises two taxing sessions of physical training every day. Each session lasts two hours.

With the arrival of American coach Scott Davidoff in Bangalore next week, tennis will be incorporated into the menu from Monday.

Sania, who will be returning to the Tour in January following a four-month injury layoff, has already hit the practice court in anticipation of the 2009 season which she’ll kick off in Hong Kong in January.

Vallabhjee, 29, from Durban, was happy with the progress being made at the camp. “I’m looking to work on fitness, speed and agility, the ability to change directions and move as quickly as possible to the ball. In tennis the maximum distance you have to cover to get to the ball is 10M, the idea is to get them to accelerate as quickly as possible so that they can get to the ball quicker,’’ he said.

While the 22-year-old Hyderabadi will begin the new season with a high-profile exhibition event, Bhupathi will start in Chennai. Bopanna, who was refused a wild card in the home event in Chennai, will begin his season in Brisbane with partner Jarkko Nieminen.

Vallabhjee, who had earlier worked with the South African Davis Cup squad, believes an improved level of fitness would give Sania’s game an edge.

[jaydeep]

Another article by Prajwal Hegde ...

Sania Mirza turns on the power
Prajwal Hegde,TNN

BANGALORE: Sania Mirza, who until three months ago was struggling to grip a glass of water in her right hand, is back to striking her dreaded forehand with military firepower.

The 22-year-old's battered wrist had gone under the knife in April. Later in the summer, Sania made brief comebacks before bowing out of the Beijing Olympic Games in tears.

A period of darkness and doubt ended when she was introduced to Dr Jatin Chaudhry, who specialises in the rare South Korean science of spiral therapy or the regeneration of body cells. Within days, she was on the road to recovery.

The Hyderabadi has been hitting the ball for almost a month now at rigorous training sessions, lasting up to two hours.

During the pre-season camp at the Tennis Village here on Thursday, she showed that if anything, she's perhaps hitting the ball harder than before.

Playing under the keen gaze of her father Imran, Sania, considerably leaner and moving a shade a quicker, has regained the full movement of her wrist. She's also able to hold firm when necessary. Both functions had been lost for a good part of the summer when her forehand looked frayed and her tennis pedestrian.

However, the practice courts are one thing and the heat of competition quite another. Nobody knows that better than Sania. To begin with, she's taking her time coming back.

The Indian ace returns to tournament play in January with a high-profile exhibition event in Hong Kong, followed by a WTA event in Hobart and then the Australian Open. For Sania, now ranked outside the top-100 for the first time in three years, the early months of 2009 will be as much a test of craft as of character.