Helping hand for Sania

Sania Mirza’s fighting defeat at the hands of fifth seed (and world No 4) Svetlana Kuznetsova showed, yet again, that she’s little...

Sania Mirza’s fighting defeat at the hands of fifth seed (and world No 4) Svetlana Kuznetsova showed, yet again, that she’s little more than a step away from the really big time. What she needs, conventional wisdom has it, is a fulltime personal coach.

And that’s exactly what Team Sania has lined up for her. From July 17, when she begins her hard-court season, Sania will have an American travelling coach, says her father Imran. He refused to give out a name, though, saying his daughter would make it public.

‘‘It wouldn’t be a long-term commitment’’, Imran told The Indian Express today.

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‘‘We are looking at an initial eight-week run leading up to the US Open.’’

It’s a decision long overdue, but better late than never. As Imran said, ‘‘If we have to improve then we have to get professional.’’

So how would a coach help sania? The most basic benefit would be having a hitting partner on tour. So far the help she gets is amateurish, though well-meaning, but for a player as dependent on rhythm and timing as she is, it is a gaping hole in her match preparation.

‘‘That half-an-hour stint is usually enough for any player to enter a match in a positive frame of mind’’, Imran says.

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The more important benefit would, of course, be having someone sort out her technical flaws, chief of which is her very poor serve.

While Sania trained under various top coaches in India, it was only after 10 years that Krishna Bhupathi pointed out that she had a problem with her service — which Bob Brett was called in to correct. She’s now improved her first service to a 60-per cent average.

Yet her serve remains a serious technical flaw and severe handicap, one that she has to counter with other weapons. Her will to perform under pressure (witness her recovery from 2-5 to 4-5 in the third set against Svetlana) coupled with a stinging, accurate forehand, are two of her most potent weapons.

As Vijay Amritraj observed before her match against Svetlana, Sania’s backhand and forehand can match the best in the world, ‘‘but a little work on her approach to the net and on her service can work wonders’’.

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Sania has displayed her talent, now she has to deliver on it. To do that, she must make up a lot of lost ground on the big stars — Maria Sharapova, for example — who have been coached by the best since the age of eight or nine.

A travelling coach is a good first step. And living out of India wouldn’t be a bad second step.

‘The personality that triggered chain of interviews’

	‘Magical Mirza the centre of attention’ • It was often hard to believe that Sania was really the loser yesterday. (Her) Centre Court debut attracted the curiosity, hers was the personality which triggered a chain of interviews, and hers was the performance watched by vast numbers on television in India. By comparison with the attention given to her opponent, was largely ignored. She handled her Centre Court debut with characteristic flair, swivelling into brilliantly struck forehands with astonishing racket-head speed, gradually overcoming her nerves, recovering from her mistakes, making a dramatic surge at the finish and handling bristling press conferences as though they were a natural extension of her life — *THE GUARDIAN* • Mirza has the power and audacity to go much farther but will need to cut down on unforced errors. Centre Court will want to see more of the tempestuous teenager breaking the mould of the traditional Indian woman as well as records every time she steps on a court. — *THE TIMES* • Around 500 million people saw her battle on TV — and cop a warning from the umpire for throwing her racket. She appeared after the match wearing a t-shirt bearing the words: ‘Well-behaved women rarely make history’. — *THE SUN*