Sania Mirza, the teenage sensation from Hyderabad has shot to fame and success in a very short time. This player from India currently stands at the 31st position in the WTA(8th august 2007). In February 2005, she became the first Indian woman to win a WTA singles title defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the Hyderabad Open Finals. Sania Mirza has been honoured with the Arjuna award by the Indian government for the year 2004. The 18-year-old tennis player hit to fame when she competed with Serena Williams in the third round of the Australian Open, in which she went down fighting. Sania is the sports icon of South Asia and has a large fan following. She became the brand ambassador of Lotto Sports Italia, the sports apparel and footwear company, and will also launch a signature line series. Besides wearing bold clothes, Sania is a devout Muslim and follows her religion closely.

Mahesh Bhupati predicts a bright future for Sania MirzaIn a current interview with the press the well known legendary Indian tennis player Mahesh Bhupati claimed that the young and budding Indian tennis icon Sania Mirza will be among the world’s top ten players within a span of two years. According to Bhupati Sania has immense potential and she is yet to attain her peak by breaking into the top ten. Bhupati said, “Sania is nowhere close to her prime yet. She is only 19 years old. Her prime will come after two years. Then she can break into the top 15 and even the top 10”. Though Sania’s ranking has slipped down to 40th, Bhupati has complete faith in her talent. To him Sania’s efforts did fell little short in the opening round of Wimbledon where she confronted the seventh seed Elena Dementieva but Sania did perform quite well.

Sania Mirza (IND)

Birthdate:
November 15, 1986
Birthplace:
Mumbai, India
Residence:
Hyderabad, India
Height:
5' 7 1/2" (1.71m)
Weight:
130 lbs. (59kg)
Plays:
Right-handed
Sania Mirza on TENNIS.com
• TennisWorld: Mirza and Pe'er Update Feb 2006 • TennisWorld: Sania of the Times Feb 2006 • TennisWorld: Update: Mirza and the Radicals Sep 2005 • TennisWorld: Straight Outta Hyderabad Aug 2005Career Singles Titles (1):2005--Hyderabad
Career Doubles Titles (7):2007--Fez, Cincinnati, Stanford, New Haven2006--Kolkata2006--Bangalore2004--Hyderabad
Country
India
Residence
Hyderabad, India
Date of birth
November 15, 1986 (1986-11-15) (age 21)
Place of birth
Mumbai, India
Height
1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight
57 kg (130 lb/9.0 st)
Turned Pro
2003
Plays
Right (two-handed backhand)
Career Prize Money
US$ 1,045,416
Singles
Career record:
183-85
Career titles:
1
Highest ranking:
No. 27 (August 27, 2007)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open
3r (2005, 2008)
French Open
2r (2007)
Wimbledon
2r (2005, 2007)
US Open
4r (2005)
Doubles
Career record:
125-59
Career titles:
7
Highest ranking:
No. 18 (September 10, 2007)
Infobox last updated on: February 14, 2008.
Medal record
Women's Tennis

Venus WilliamsRichard Williams dreamed of raising tennis stars, and amazingly, he has raised two. Both Venus Williams and Serena Williams have reached the heights of tennis fame. They have both gone on to do very well on the tennis circuit. The older of the two, Venus, used her reputation to launch a successful interior design company.Venus was born June 17, 1980 in Lynwood, California. Winning tournaments by the age of 10, she was home-schooled by her mother. Originally, she was trained by Rick Macci, Jennifer Capriati’s one-time coach, but later it was her father Richard taking over coaching duties. Venus turned professional on October 31, 1994. Fortunately, her timing was perfect. After Venus turned pro, a rule was put into place that prohibited 14 year olds from competing in World Tennis Association (WTA) events. Venus played sparingly, however, concentrating more on her education.Playing in a Grand Slam for her first time in 1997, Venus became the first unseeded female to make it to the U.S. Open Final. She lost to Martina Hingis, but it was clear that the young Venus was headed for big things in her tennis career. The next season she was able to beat Hingis in a tournament in Australia, and also beat Serena who was coming up in the ranks as well. That same year, Venus’ fast serve was clocked at 127.4 miles per hour, the fastest ever in WTA history. By the time that season was finished, she had won her first WTA single title, defeating Hingis again, as well as Anna Kournikova. The following year, Venus was beaten for the first time by her sister Serena, who went on to a Grand Slam victory, achieving that goal before Venus. However, when the season ended, both of the Williams sisters were ranked in the top five in the world. In April the following year, following a slump in her career, father Richard announced a possible retirement for Venus, yet she persevered, and found herself winning her own Grand Slam title, beating Hingis and Serena once again. The next day the two sisters teamed up and won the Wimbledon doubles title. Later that year, she won another Grand Slam title, becoming the first woman to do so since Hingis in 1997. Later, in the Olympics, Venus broke records once again, becoming the first woman since 1924 to win gold medals in single and doubles tennis.
Serena Jameka Williams, (born September 26, 1981) is an American former World No. 1 ranked female tennis player who has won eight Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic gold medal in women's doubles.[4] She is the last player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously. In 2005, Tennis magazine ranked her as the 17th-best player of the preceding forty years. She is the younger sister of another former World No. 1 professional female tennis player, Venus Williams. Serena currently resides at Ballen Isles in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.[