Sania and Sanaa make Grand Slam history for India

They’ve come a long way. Sanaa Bhambri and Sania Mirza made tennis history at Roland Garros in Paris today by becoming the first Indian...

They’ve come a long way. Sanaa Bhambri and Sania Mirza made tennis history at Roland Garros in Paris today by becoming the first Indian girls to reach the semi-final of a Grand Slam event.

This is the latest in a string of good results by India’s junior tennis players, both boys and girls, over the past year to show that there is hope after Paes and Bhupathi.


Sania (left) and Sanaa

Watched by their teammates, and for a while by Bhupathi, the two Indian teenagers rallied remarkably from a 0-4 deficit in the first set to upstage their more fancied opponents, Ukraine’s Katerina Bondarenko and Egyptian Heidi El El Tabakh, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. Last year Sania, with Isha Lakhani, had made it to the quarterfinals of the US Open.

Story continues below this ad

It was a good day for Indian tennis as Bhupathi and his partner Elena Likhovsteva reached the final of the mixed doubles.

But the high point was the girls’ day out, especially the way they fought back after being 0-4 down in the first set. ‘‘It was quite exciting to see them play, considering they haven’t been in many tough situations like this before’’, said Bhupathi.

Sania, speaking to The Indian Express, said those initial jitters were due to the inexperience of playing on a big stage. ‘‘We didn’t know what was happening first and couldn’t find our rhythm.’’

However, they showed they could adapt to situations. The best option, Sania said, was to ‘‘just hang in there and keep more balls in play’’. The result: they crawled back into the game, levelled scores and pushes the first set into the tie-breaker.

Story continues below this ad

Thereafter, as Sania says, their rivals ‘‘started making errors and were more erratic’’, resulting in ‘‘us winning’’.

‘‘They were playing reall well’’, says teammate Karan Rastogi, who was watching from the stands — not full but, he says, very vocal in support of the Indians.

‘‘Everything happened so suddenly, it took a minute to register the feeling of their win. We immediately ran onto the courts and greeted the two, who were shouting in happiness.’’

Those sounds were echoed in Delhi’s Gulmohar Park area, where the Bhambri household was keeping track of the match on the Net.

Story continues below this ad

‘‘It’s a fantastic feeling’’, said Sanaa’s mother Indu, ‘‘the whole house is happy, we are all dancing. We never had this expectation, we just wanted them to do well.’’

This is just the latest feather in their cap. While Sania has graduated to the senior level smoothly, helping India qualify to the Asia Oceania Grade I in the Fed Cup, Sanaa played a starring role in India’s qualification to the junior Fed Cup.