Sania Mirza - Third Round Rubicon

Sania out of Pacific Open. Well no one seems to be bothered as long as her shirt and skirts are open. Did you say that it sounds derogatory? The innumerable unsolicited forwards of her pictures that every guy gets in his mailbox ratifies what I said. And that’s the truth. Please don’t tell me that she created new found craze for tennis among kids and youth. Paes and Bhupathi should have inspired more with their half-a-dozen Grand Slams. And our sweet Sania adamantly refuses to violate the self-imposed fatwa of “Third Round Rubicon”. But thanks to her, we now know about so many exotic opens. Earlier, the only ones we knew were the Australian, French and the US. Our own Hyderabad, where the only knowledge of tennis comes from the usage to tennis balls to play indoor cricket in order to avoid collateral damage, has also had its Open. Such a Open and so open that even those applied for passes got wildcards. Of course, Sania won. The only one which she had won. I guess she too contracted from the fear of foreign lands from our cricket team. Cant blame the little girl for that.

No. I am not into Sania bashing as my knowledge on tennis is as poor are Inzamam’s knowledge of English. And of course she is blessed with the bountiful availability of time on her side to prove her mettle. But the coverage she gets is a trifle irritating. After Indira Gandhi she must be the only Indian female whose loss makes as much news as her victory. And its not just the media, the Government has fallen for it. I am not contesting the Government’s decision to confer upon her Padma Shri. When Kissinger can get a Nobel and MGR a Bharat Ratna, anyone can get anything. But what is appalling is the neglect of other young promising sportsmen. Are the feats of Harikrishna and Humpy in any manner less accomplished? Yet everyone knows the struggle they face for funding their training, leave alone recognition and brand endorsement. Well, guess they need to hone their “attitude” and wear better t-shirts to press meets.

It is time that Government and media stop drooling over glamour in sports, which is incidentally the monopoly of sexually frustrated Indian adolescents, and put their efforts in a manner the ownership and control of the sports resources of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good; that the operation of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of sponsorship to the common detriment. Does it sound constitutional? Well, it is. But that part which isn’t justiciable.

Anyways, lets keep our fingers crossed. Not for those underprivileged sportspersons. Not for Sania to win. But for Sports Illustrated to cover her. They did a good job with Kuronikova and Sharapova. And I am sure the Indian has more talent to showcase. The Opens? Aah.. They can wait and in any case none of us are going to get a pie out of the prize money or any tax benefits.