Sania Mirza – The rise of the Indian tennis star through the rankings

Tennis sensation Sania Mirza is one of the greatest sporting icons of the country. She is India’s highest-ranking female tennis player in singles as well as doubles. Her achievements on the court have inspired millions of young Indian girls to pursue their dreams. Even after playing top-flight tennis for nearly two decades, the Hyderabadi girl still continues to motivate young and aspiring athletes to take up sports as their career paths.

Apart from being one of the greatest Indian female players of the sport, she is also one of the highest-paid athletes from the country. Sania has won a staggering six Grand Slam titles in her illustrious career which include three in mixed doubles and three in women’s doubles. Across her career span, she has registered some impressive wins against higher ranked players like former French player Marion Bartoli and Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova. However, a wrist injury derailed her singles performance and she shifted her attention to the doubles format.

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Sania’s rankings through the years:

Women’s Doubles:

She finally reached the summit of women’s doubles rankings when she was ranked World Number 1 by WTA back in April 2015. Her reign at the top lasted 91 weeks when she was dethroned by USA’s Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Her 91 consecutive weeks at the top is also the fourth-highest by any female player in women’s doubles WTA rankings. Her biggest success in mixed doubles came when she won the 2009 Australian open and her most recent 2014’s US open.

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Women’s Singles:

With an impressive singles career record of 271-161, Sania broke into the Top 30 of WTA rankings on 27^th August 2007. At number 27, she reached her highest ever ranking which still remains the best by any Indian player on the WTA charts. Even though she hasn’t won any singles tournament, her best performance came in 2005 and 2008’s Australian Open in 3^rd round finishes. She also reached the 4^th round of the 2005 US open.

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