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Flexibility a double-edged sword for Sania Mirza Back To Main

MELBOURNE: Sania Mirza yanks her thumb down to touch the underside of her forearm. “See?” she giggles. “I’m double-jointed.”

The 25-year-old Indian, whose tennis world ranking once rose as high as 27th in singles, has endured a torrid time with injuries that left her unable to hold cutlery properly let alone a racquet.

The Hyderabad native, who married former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik and is now based out of Dubai, says the hyper-mobility in her joints has been both a blessing and a cruse in her career.

“Not many people know but my joints are extremely hyper mobile and that’s why I’m more prone to injuries,” Mirza said in an interview. “That’s why most of my major injuries were with the joints. “I had a career-threatening wrist injury where picking up a fork to feed myself was a problem and the thought of playing tennis again was so far from my mind.

“It’s hard to get back to normal when you’ve had three surgeries before you’re 25.” Now back on the road to full fitness, Mirza has reached the semifinals of the Australian Open mixed doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi and while her joint condition has kept her off court for long periods, it has also helped her game on court.

“Because of the laxity in the wrist that’s how I generate the forehand power. So it’s got its positives and negatives. It’s just great to be back playing again, and winning is a bonus.” “We’re a billion people in India and being famous comes with a price,” she reflected.

“The good price is so many people respect you, they pray for you, they love you and what you have done for the country. “On the flip side, people have opinions about everything, everyone is a critic, everyone knows tennis better than you do.

“You kind of just have to live with it.” Her relationship with the media has been a rocky one. “I was one of the few people who have lived in the public eye since I was 15. At first they just talked about tennis and then they started talking about everything else.

“It takes time to get used to that, it’s been 10 years, I’m 25 and I’m still getting used to some things. I can’t lie, if people say something bad or negative it hurts but you have to try to block it out. That’s why all of us in the public eye try not to read as many newspapers.”