PTI

Hyderabad, Jul 14: Carrying the hopes of a billion people is a 'privilege' for Sania Mirza and the Hyderabadi tennis ace vows to give everything it needs to bring home an individual Olympic medal, a feat only four Indians have managed since independence.

Sania will compete in the strongest ever singles field, led by world number one Serb Ana Ivanovic, in the history of the quadrennial extravaganza and the young Indian knows well that the road ahead is full of challenges.

Yet, she is determined to live up to the expectations.

"Winning an Olympic medal in any discipline is not easy and the women's singles field in tennis is very, very tough. Winning a medal in women's singles or doubles will have to be against all odds.

"But as someone representing the country, it is my duty to do whatever I possibly can to try and achieve this glory for my country," Sania told PTI in an exclusive interview.

Whenever she enters the tennis courts, Sania knows the nation of one billion plus people is watching every movement curiously, but she says she does not buckle under the pressure.

"It is a tremendous honour to represent India at the Olympics but I believe I carry the hopes of my people in every event that I participate in, including the Grand Slams. The pressure is not new to me and I consider it a great privilege," she said.

Sania has just recovered from a wrist injury, which put her out of action for three months and did not have a comeback she would have preferred.

She did not go beyond second round in singles at any of the three tournaments, including Wimbledon, she played but had a good run in the doubles at the third Grand Slam of the year where she made her first quarter-final appearance along with Bethanie Mattek.

Sania said she was concentrating to get into a perfect shape before the big event.

"I'm playing in tournaments in Stanford, Los Angeles and Stockholm to get into the best shape I can before the Olympics."

On her comeback and how her wrist was responding after the surgery, Sania says, "The power is gradually coming back and the control is better but it may still take me a few weeks before I'm back to the level I was playing at before my injury.

"When I underwent the surgery barely three months ago, I'd never imagined that I would be back competing at the highest level so soon and I'm happy with my comeback although I'm still finding my way around."

She attributes her best doubles result at a Grand Slam to difference in intensity at doubles competition.

"Doubles is comparatively easier as the physical effort required to compete is not as demanding as in singles, in which even a minor injury can be ruthlessly exposed," she said.

So far, whenever Sania claimed she is playing best tennis of her career, one or other injury halted her good run. Reacting to this, the Hyderabadi girl said the gruels and demands of professional tennis makes a player vulnerable to injuries.

"It is unfortunate but almost everyone in the top-100 is struggling with injuries. In order to compete today at the highest level, one need to push one's body to the limit and in doing so, we expose ourselves to various kinds of injuries.

"It's a professional hazard and there are no guarantees to our physical well being," she said.

Apart from singles, Sania would also compete in the doubles event at Olympics as the International Tennis Federation have given her and Sunitha Rao a wildcard entry.

Sania and Sunitha have hardly been seen together as they play different tournaments due to difference in rankings. And unfortunately they can not pair up to play in any tournament ahead of Olympics.

However, Sania is not bothered about lack of match practice with the US-based Sunitha, who is India's second best woman player.

"We will practice together in Beijing but there does not seem to be a possibility of us playing together in tournaments before the Olympics. We have not played together since a very long time but Sunitha has had some good results in doubles recently and I'm looking forward to playing with her.

"For me, sport is more about trying to capitalise on whatever opportunities one gets and not cribbing about what we do not or could not have.