Sania Mirza Tennis Academy: The hub of India's brightest women's Tennis players

Sania Mirza Tennis Academy aims to be the very best in the country

Injuries may have curtailed Sania Mirza, by far the best Indian women’s singles player ever, from playing her first choice format but not her determination to help India produce fine women’s Tennis players through Sania Mirza Tennis Academy (SMTA).

The academy, which has nine synthetic courts and in addition to that a couple of clay courts which could be functional anytime now, is being trusted with the responsibility of nurturing and fine-tuning the skills of nine women’s players for the Fed Cup in Kazakhstan in February.

It is also becoming the hub for the brightest female talents around the country as the 51-year-old Christian Filhol, the coach of the Indian Fed Cup team, has taken the charge of mentoring the girls at the academy for the time being.

Speaking to The Hindu, Imran Mirza, Sania’s father, had this to say: “This is a huge opportunity for everyone in India. Thanks to the AITA initiative, Filhol has been taking care of the Fed Cup campers. With former Australian Olympian Robert Ballard giving a new definition to what tennis-specific training is all about, I am confident the players will be an improved lot.”

Filhol, who was instrumental behind the rise of well-known women’s players like Mary Pierce, Elena Dementieva, Justine-Henin, Marion Bartoli and Cara Black, had words of praise for the SMTA.

He said: “Yes, it takes time for some of them to reach the desired standards. In terms of facilities, they cannot complain at the SMTA, which I can say can be compared with some of the best in the world.”

Lets hope some notable Indian women’s singles players like Ankita Raina (World No. 295), Prerna Bhambri (world No. 591) and Sunkara Rishika (World No. 511) make use of the facilities and find their way up-top.