The Hindu : Sport : Sania can reach the top 10: Vijay

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Tuesday, Feb 20, 2007
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Sania can reach the top 10: Vijay

Kalyan Ashok

She is moving better and looks much fitter

BIG ADMIRER: Vijay likes the `disciplined sense of arrogance' Sania displays on court. — File Photo: PTI

BANGALORE: Though Sania failed to break the Bangalore jinx, there is no doubting her potential. Former Indian ace, Vijay Amritraj, who watched her closely during the Sony Ericsson International here, believes that she is indeed a top-10 material.

He admires, what he calls "her sense of disciplined arrogance," on court.

The multifaceted Vijay, who is a UN Goodwill Ambassador and TV commentator besides being a former ATP President, spoke exclusively to The Hindu on Sania and Indian tennis.

The excerpts:

Q: You watched Sania after a long gap. What are the improvements in her game?

A: It's been quite some time since I saw Sania play. I had the call for her match against Yaroslava Shvedova and what I saw impressed me. She is moving and attacking better, and looks much fitter.

All the three matches she played here were three-setters. So she is going to lose a match because she is tired.

Her trainer says that she is 30 per cent more fitter. These are good signs and as for strategy, she and her coach and trainer should work out a strategy that suits her game.

Q: Does she need a little more variation, like going defensive and cutting down the pace when the tide is against her?

A: I don't think she has to change her style. If you are a serve-and-volleyer, you don't decide to stay back for a little while. It is important for her to stay aggressive. People are not going to remember your bad losses, but only your good wins. I am a big supporter of taking chances and playing aggressive tennis.

Let's not be unduly worried about her bad losses and let's look forward to her good wins.

Q: Do you still believe that she can make it to the top 10?

A: I always thought she had the ability. Not because of any other reason, I think she has got that in her head, which is winning 90 per cent of the battle.

Sania has got a sort of don't-give-a-damn attitude, she has what I may call, a disciplined sense of arrogance.

It's nice to see a young girl of 20 do that, especially an Indian girl. Now what she improves, and how she does that, is entirely up to her.

Q: You saw the other Indian players, including Shikha Uberoi and Tara Iyer. Can they make it as big as Sania?

A: It's hard to say. We got a good talent pool. Tara looked good but she played nervously. Talking to them, I found their passion is strong which was not there 10 years ago. In the old days, it was a sort of part-time endeavour.

The girls today have much better chances of breaking into the big league because they have more passion and commitment towards the game.

Q: Do you wish there was a better system in place for our players in the country, say for instance like the one they have in Spain?

A: Players in India have nearly 50 tournaments in a year, between juniors, men's and women's ITF, Satellite and WTAs. I was telling Anil Khanna that they have done well to get this in place where our players actually make points at home.

In my days, we had to run to Europe. The chances of making ATP and WTA points are brighter at home than ever before and I take my hats off to the AITA.

Q: What about our men's tennis? We are now going to play a relegation tie and our players hardly figure even in the qualifying rounds of Grand Slams. What's the way up?

A: It's a bit of a valley and there are ups-and-downs, but we always had players coming out of nowhere and making it big. The talent and improvement is there but our rate cannot be compared to foreign players. On a scale of 1 to 10, we are improving at the rate of 4 or 5 while they are improving at 9. We have great kids like Rohan, Prakash, Karan, Harsh and Vivek and a whole lot of others. They have to commit themselves to a much better work ethic and aim to not be second best.

Q: Has Prakash met your expectations?

A: My expectations for Prakash were an absolute zero when we started. Somebody asked me, what my dreams were for him. My dreams are his dreams. He is committed and works hard. Unfortunately, he was injured and is now coming out of it. I am always there to support him, and willing to give a 1000 per cent.

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