Sania has found a way to deal with her stardom and the pressures that came along with it, and she is happy as ever to be an Indian.
PARIS: Being "one in a billion" doesn't pose problems for Sania Mirza any more.
The 20-year-old invited the wrath of Muslim clerics with her innocent comments on the subject of sex before marriage and wearing six-inch tennis skirts.
However, Sania has now found a way to deal with her stardom and the pressures that came along with it, and she is happy as ever to be an Indian.
"Everything I am today, I am because of India," Sania said after her maiden singles win at the French Open on Wednesday.
"Of course, there are lots of times when you just want your privacy. It is hard when you are one in a billion," she said.
The Hyderabadi girl stormed into the second round with a 6-1 6-1 mauling of Italian Alberta Brianti.
To Sania goes the credit of creating an excitement about tennis among her countrymen who are otherwise obsessed with the willow game.
There have been champions from India before her, namely the Krishnans and the Amritrajs, and recently Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.
But a combination of photogenic look and being a teenage girl catapulted her into stardom two years ago.
Her Islamic background, however, has brought her trouble.
In 2005, her maiden season on the senior women's circuit and in which she wrote her name into history by winning a WTA title and reaching the fourth round at the US Open, a fatwa was issued condemning her sporting attire.
And a fanatical mob staged a violent protest in front of her house.
It is only natural that Sania understands well the enormous pressure the Indian cricketers are subjected to whenever they take the field.
"There is always pressure for them to do well. But I told them that there are 11 of you. There is just one of me," she said.
"There are always a lot of people who want you to do well. You have to learn to block it out," she said.
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