India Lacks Proper Tennis Infrastructure

“Tennis is a lot harder than the other sports, not in terms of the hard work that goes into it but in terms of what has to click to become a professional tennis player and to be really good at it.

“I am not in any way trying to demean any other sport, just saying that tennis is too global a sport with 200 countries on the world stage every single day.” Currently out of the court due to a knee injury, Sania praised the performances of the Indian Fed Cup team, comprising the likes of Ankita Raina, Karman Kaur Thandi, Pranjala Yadlapalli and Prarthana Thombare, but also pointed out that someone has to carry forward the mantle.

“I am not going to play forever, so there has to be someone who can take forward the legacy of women’s tennis, which has grown by leaps and bounds over the last 20 years and we don’t want it to go back to what it was and die down.”