Even though I am not a big fan of hers, but this is not the way to treat your national star.
**MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) **-- In her darkest moments, Sania Mirza wonders if she should quit tennis.
The Indian tennis star wishes her only concern before a match was to study her opponent. But it is hardly that simple.
Instead, she’s taking phone calls from lawyers in India, answering questions about her loyalty to her country and defending her Muslim beliefs.
“It’s not easy to deal with things like that off the court. … I am not superhuman so it does affect me,” Mirza said Tuesday after her first-round victory at the Australian Open. “As much as I try to block it out, it’s still in the back of your mind.”
When she first came on the WTA Tour full time three years ago – her first Grand Slam was the Australian Open in 2005 – she was often criticized for her short skirts and midriff-revealing T-shirts that put her at odds with sections of the orthodox Muslim clergy.
**Now her nationalism has been questioned. She was photographed at the Hopman Cup in Perth this month with her bare feet near an Indian flag.
On Jan. 9, a social worker in India went to court in Bhopal and had a judge issue a summons under the “Prevention of Insult to the National Honor Act.” The court was told that Mirza disrespected the Indian flag by “sitting in a manner so that her feet pointed at the flag, which he felt was derogatory and had hurt him.”
Mirza insists she would never show lack of respect for India.
“I love my country,” said Mirza, who is from the southern city of Hyderabad. “I wouldn’t be playing Hopman Cup otherwise. But other than that, I am not allowed to comment because it is before the courts.”
Last week, she said she considered quitting tennis and ending a career that has brought her one WTA Tour title and seven finals appearances. **
“It does play on your mind. You do start to think that at the end of the day I am not a politician to outsmart people,” Mirza said. "That’s not what I am trying to do, which is to play tennis. I’m 21 and trying to be the best I can be.
“A lot of thoughts went through my head in the past couple of weeks, and one of the thoughts was (quitting). But I wouldn’t say that they were serious enough that I would quit right now.”
