espnstar.com brings to you a brief profile of Indian tennis sensations Sania Mirza and Leander Paes.

By Sunny Lyngdoh

She  has got spunk, she has got style and she has got the game. And if there is someone who has changed the way tennis is followed in this country, it is Sania Mirza.

Unfortunately, the realities of the modern game have hit her hard in recent years, as she fell from the dizzying heights of world number 27 to the bottom of the top 100.

Thankfully, this year has been kinder to Sania as she recovered from a wrist injury to win the Australian Open with Mahesh Bhupathi.

Sania also won her first WTA doubles title in nearly two years with Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei. Her singles ranking has improved to 78 on the back of a semi-final appearance at the Aegon Classic, a grass court tournament.

The Aegon experience would have helped Sania adjust to playing on grass, and she used every bit of that experience to get past world number 51 Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the first round of the singles.
However, close friend Sorana Cirstea, seeded 28, brimming with confidence after having beaten world number six Jelena Jankovic at Roland Garros was too hot to handle and Sania went down in straight sets.

Seeded 15th in the doubles, Sania probably has a better chance in that category. With Chuang for company, Sania ought to make it to the third round without much ado, but the second-seeded Spanish pair of Virginia Ruano Pascual and Anabel Medina Garrigues, who should also make it through comfortably, will prove tough nuts to crack.
Sania will also be praying for her pairing with Bhupathi to click as it did in Melbourne.

Leander Paes: It is the age of power tennis – fast ground strokes and faster serves – but few things on a tennis court are as quick as Leander Paes’s reflexes.

India’s tennis ace was at his vintage best at the French Open doubles final earlier this month, getting seemingly lost causes back over the net with what came close to magic. One hopes Quicksilver Paes will have the same tricks up his sleeve at Wimbledon.

Paes and Czech  Lukas Dlouhy are the third seeds this year, and are likely to come up against Andy Ram and Max Mirnyi in the quarters. If they succeed in getting the better of the Israeli-
Belarusian pair, defending champions Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic could be next in line. The Canadian and the Serb will not have forgotten the defeat Paes and Dlouhy had handed them in the French Open semis.

Three of Paes’s nine Grand Slam titles have come at the All England Club. In each of the last four editions, Paes has made at least the last eight of the men’s doubles. He will be hoping his good form takes him all the way this year.

Paes might stand a more than good chance in the mixed doubles too. He won the US Open in 2008 partnering Cara Black, and although the Indo-Zimbabwean duo have had disappointing Grand Slam exits this year, Black’s record at Wimbledon (four titles in all) should stand them in good stead.
Being top of the seeded pairs doesn’t hurt either.
 

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