Becoming World No. 1 is a dream come true: Sania Mirza
After her historic doubles triumph in the Family Circle Cup that propelled her to the World Number 1 position in doubles for the first time in her career, Sania Mirza said that it was a dream come true for her, her family and for everyone in India.
The Indo-Swiss pair of Mirza and Martina Hingis defeated Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak 6-0 6-4 in the final to clinch their third title in a row after Indian Wells and Miami.
"It's a dream come true. For me, my family, and my country too,” Mirza told NDTV from Charleston.
The Hyderabadi admitted that the thoughts of becoming the top-ranked player in the world were playing in her mind, but she did her best to focus on the game instead and emphasised on taking it one match at a time.
"I'd be lying if I'd say it's not playing on my mind. But the idea is to try and block it out as much as possible and take it one match at a time,” she said.
Talking about the final, she said that there was some tension, especially in the second set, when the duo were twice on match point.
"It was a bit nervy towards the end of the second set, and we were on match point twice. But that's tennis, you have to win every point to cross the finish line, nobody gives it to you," the 28-year-old said.
In hindsight, focussing solely on doubles has proved to be a great decision: Mirza
Owing to a recurring wrist injury which nearly put an end to her tennis career, Mirza decided to put all her focus on doubles in 2012. Talking about that call, she said that in hindsight it has proved to be a great one for her as it has helped her set newer goals and given her a more clear direction to achieve them.
"It was a tough call to take, but my body just couldn't cope any longer. I had to re-set my goals, and I'm happy I've been able to achieve that.
“In hindsight, it was definitely a great decision,” she said.
When asked about her successful partnership with Hingis so far, she said she was enjoying partnering the 5-time Grand Slam singles champion and wished that the winning run with her never came to an end.
“I hope our winning streak never ends. Of course that's going to happen, but till then I hope we continue playing some amazing tennis like we have so far. We played some great matches against each other when we were singles player, and now it's fantastic to be on the same side of the court,” she said.