Sania Mirza comes from Hyderabad, where you don't exactly need central heating or bed socks. But even she was feeling the pinch in the 40-degree furnace of Melbourne Park yesterday.
As for Mirza, who has been Down Under for a few weeks, it was all too familiar. "It tans you. You can feel the sun on your legs at the changeover. You can feel it burning. Hyderabad's not as hot." - Mirza
Hotter than Hyderabad? You betcha. "I know India's hot and everything, but it's not that hot," said Mirza, who progressed to the second round by overcoming Ukraine's Olga Savchuk 6-3, 7-5 on court three yesterday morning. "When the weather's hot in India, I kind of play early morning or late in the evening. But compared to the Ukraine, I guess it's hotter." Poor Savchuk melted under the sledgehammer sun, calling for the trainer at one point. As for Mirza, who has been Down Under for a few weeks, it was all too familiar. "It tans you. You can feel the sun on your legs at the changeover. You can feel it burning. Hyderabad's not as hot."Mirza is India's first female player of stature, although the subcontinent has produced male stars in the past such as Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan, as well as a few doubles specialists. Mirza is India's first WTA tournament winner and, as such, has become a role model at just 20. "That's been there always and it's only going to grow now," she said. "It's something I have to live with and there's not much I can do about it. The quicker everyone accepts that, the easier it is for everyone." The game is burgeoning in India, she says. "I got so many messages last night saying: 'We're sleeping early so we can get up at 5.30 and watch the match.' I've never seen or heard of that before. Tennis is growing. It's a matter of time before we have a lot of players coming out on this level. A lot of people are picking up tennis racquets. I just hope in five years' time we don't just have one tennis player."
Source: Sydney morning herald
