By IANS
Hyderabad : Sania Mirza’s decision to skip the next month’s Bangalore Open tennis tournament to avoid getting dragged into fresh controversies has baffled the tennis fraternity.
Sania said that controversies, which have been chasing her for quite some time, was the main reason behind her decision to pull out. “I am not playing in Bangalore Open. I have been advised by my manager not to play (there) because a lot has been happening in the past few months,” Sania told reporters here Monday.
“Every time I have played in India, there has been some kind of problem. So, we just thought it was better not to play this time,” she added.
Sania has been dogged with controversies – ranging from her on-court attire being dubbed indecent by Islamic fundamentalists to her showing disrespect to the national flag during the Hopman Cup in December last year.
In fact, the off-court controversies depressed the world No.29 to such an extent that she also contemplated giving up tennis a few weeks before the Australian Open in January.
“It (pulling out of Bangalore Open) is not an extreme reaction. The controversies have been going on for a long time. It is not easy to deal with such stuff. I have gone through great lows in the last few weeks. It has been difficult to try and stay focused,” she said.
Sania went on to add: “A lot has happened and I thought about a lot of things. Here I am giving everything for the country, and to have to deal with this kind of attention just as I was preparing for a Slam was bothersome.”
Sania said she always faced some problem or the other whenever she has played in India. “I felt better not to play. Yes, it was a passing thought I had if all I’m doing was worth it. It does take its toll because it is not easy to deal with that kind of pressure”, she said.
“It’s not normal for any youngster to block such pressure all the time and keep performing. Moreover, playing in India is not as important to me as playing for my country. I’ve never shirked the responsibility of playing for my country even when I was injured,” she said.