Sania Tops Doubles Player List Again

Sania Mirza’s feat as world number one in the doubles ranking of Women's Tennis Association (WTA) continues for the second year in a row. A players’ list released this week showed Sania topping the doubles while Germany’s Angelique Kerber maintained her top ranking in singles.

Kerber is followed by American Serena Williams who retains second ranking and the third ranking went to Polish player Agnieska Radwanska.

In the doubles section, while Sania continued to top, her Swiss partner Martina Hingis went two ranks back to fourth. Frenchwomen Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic share the second spot. However, Garcia stepped up two ranks from fourth while Mladenovic stepped up from third to second.

Sania started playing tennis when she was six years old. She recently released her autobiography -- Ace Against Odds. SheThePeople.TV caught up with her at one of the book launches in Delhi. Asked about her journey since turning pro at 16 in 2003, the 29-year-old tennis player said, “I have not had a regular tennis player professional life from 16 to 29. It’s been quite entertaining on and off the court to say the least.”

Also read: Ace Against Odds: The Sania Mirza Story

Her tennis career and life has been lauded and critiqued in equal measure by the public. Ask her how she dealt with the limelight and yet remained so focused to get to the top, the number one player explained how difficult it is to grow up in the limelight as you are asked strange questions by strangers almost every day on a public platform. “It is a lot easier to deal with the acclaim and the criticism at 29 or even at 25 but when you are becoming a woman and becoming your own person, it is much harder to handle both,” she said.

“I grew up in front of the whole world,” added Sania.