Sania's season of struggle

After the commercial failure and artistic success of Fat City, his 1972 boxing movie, American director John Huston said, "Fans want champs; people don't care for the spiritual processes of the defeated."
Sania Mirza might be tempted to hang her own second season on the WTA Tour on an identical peg. The losses have been glaring but the gains have slipped by public consciousness like a weak shadow.
Numerically, the 2006 season has been forgettable for the striking Hyderabadi.She has dropped to 66 in the singles rankings after climbing to 31 late last year, has a win-loss record of 20-24, and didn’t make a Tour quarterfinal till July and a semifinal till September.
Compare that with her breakthrough rookie year when she dazzled and defied, winning a title and reaching a final, earning the title of "first Indian woman" almost everywhere she went. You might be tempted to ask what Sania Mirza was doing this year. The answer is, learning the tough lessons.
That doesn’t make it an altogether poor season. It is just that the success for most part was intangible. The many tests came in difficult draws that saw frequent first-round exits, a series of injuries that pushed her back two steps for every one taken forward, and fitness issues. Also, the test of serve and nerve in crunch situations and the coach dilemma, which was beginning to resemble a round of Russian roulette.
Rhythm, the foundation on which she had built her challenge last year, had hit a poor note. Her confidence shook and her game crumbled. At times, after tough losses, you could see the fear, however fleeting, in her eyes.
Each time she switched on her iPod and turned inward for answers she may have found a comrade in the words of her favourite singer Eminem, "Life is like a big obstacle put in front of your optical to slow you down. And every time you think you gotten past it it's gonna come back around and tackle you to the damn ground."
While she showed improvement in the weak areas of her game, especially serve and fitness, her forte, the forehand, struggled for consistency. In all, her game resembled the reading of an erratic heartbeat. The result was that she began caving in at the finish in close matches, some of which were against top guns like Elena Dementieva, Daniela Hantuchova and Patty Schynder.
Though she did register a top-20 win (Flavia Pennetta) as early as February, her first quarterfinal appearance on the Tour this season came late in the summer in Cincinnati and her first semifinal in Kolkata in September. She did register an upswing in fortunes late in the year, when fitter and hitting the ball with growing confidence, she even managed to dislodge Martina Hingis in Seoul en route to the quarterfinals. But it remained a sparkling footnote in a season of struggle.
The toughest lesson may have been: success isn’t a right, it’s a prize to be earned. To her credit it must be said that she responded with heart and courage. In February, with critics already writing off her debut season as a flash in the pan, she arrived for a tournament in Bangalore with her reputation under attack and ranking on shaky ground.
After a shocking second round loss to the lower ranked Camillie Pin, during the course of which she injured her elbow, Sania chose to stay on and grind it out in the doubles. A lesser player may have cited injury, with valid reason, packed her bags and licked her wounds in private. Instead, she came back day after day in the doubles — showing commitment and resolve.
While her singles ranking slipped, her doubles record soared, giving her two titles in the season and a career-best ranking of 25. However, Sania ignored her success in the two-man team event and maintained her focus in the more trying arena of singles.
While she stuck with doubles through most of the year, using the matches and the experience to help her in singles, she didn’t hesitate to give it a miss in the last quarter when her body needed a break. Clearly, she isn’t looking for the easier route.
Right through the year she has taken little steps in the direction on the fitness front but the biggest stride came in August when she decided to hire South African fitness trainer, Heath Matthews.
Last week, she began her pre-season training for 2007. The issue of a coach, however, is as yet unresolved.
As the name of her racquet suggests — Head Flexpoint Instinct — Sania is a player of instinct. When on court, she will continue to rely on guts but otherwise has plans to fall back on some of the sharper tennis minds in the country.
The fall (from 31 to 66) has been visible, while the climb has largely been a backstage exercise. Somewhere along the line the tough choices will have to translate to results. That is the ultimate test of a champion athlete.
After all, fans, as John Huston so clearly understood, always want champs.