Sania Mirza should play both doubles and singles

Sania Mirza has surprised everyone with her sudden rise.

Remember, she was always a good player. If not for her injuries, she would have definitely entered the 30s and 40s in ranking. But now that she has recovered, she has also regained a lot of confidence and is climbing up the rankings quickly.

The fact is that Sania has the game and the capacity to move on. With her current ranking, she will get direct entries to Grand Slams so she doesn’t have to worry about qualifying for these big events.

The problem is that she got the injuries at a very early age and could not do much about it. Sania has also realised that the game is now much more demanding. To back that, she has got good wins under her belt. Her match against Justine Henin recently where she won the first set only to eventually lose the game said a lot about her determination.

For now, even doubles is a good option for her. She has one of the most punishing ground strokes in the game and will be a very valuable doubles player. Her partners can easily play volleys with her playing the groundstrokes. It is definitely a good option for her. In some way or the other, she can at least contribute more. Sania should play both the events as long as she is getting singles and doubles entry.

Unlike Rohan Boppana, who is a better singles player, but because of his low rankings has to qualify everytime, Sania doesn’t have to do that and therefore should play both the events. It is good because doubles events start late in a tournament, so she can concentrate on singles in the first week and then focus her energies in doubles. In Vesnina, she has a good partner and they are playing a good game. Though mixed doubles is played only in Slams, she can look at that too. It will be tough. She has to be really fit to play three events in one tournament.

Sania has gained a lot of confidence since her comeback. Though her service is still a concern and she has to tighten up that part of her game, she is definitely coming hard and if she goes on the way she has since her comeback, she should be right up in the thirties and forties. Post her marriage, she has more responsibilities to take care of. But she is very ambitious and all that won’t matter to her.

SP Misra is India’s Davis Cup captain and is based in Hyderabad.

As told to Gautam Seth.