By NNN-PTI
Hyderabad : Tired of being dragged into one controversy after another in the past few months, Sania Mirza has decided against playing in India for now.
Sania has opted out of next month’s Bangalore Open and has cited the petty controversies that have been dogging her for quite some time for the pullout.
“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 today.
“Everytime 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.
Ever since her breakthrough 2005 season, Sania has been battling controversies ranging from her on court attire being dubbed indecent by Islamic fundamentalists to the recent flag controversy during the Hopman Cup in December last year.
In fact, the off court furores had shaken the world number 29 to such an extent that she had contemplated giving up the game altogether a few weeks before last month’s Australian Open.
Meanwhile, the Bangalore Open will now have another added attraction with Venus Williams confirming participation and joining her sister Serena, the organisers announced here Monday.
“The Bangalore Open will have them”, tournament director and Secretary of the Karnataka Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) Sunder Raju told reporters here.
Austria’s Sybille Bammer (ranked 19th) will also be participating in this Tier-II event, being held here at Karnataka Lawn Tennis Courts from March 3 to 9.
For the first time, as an experiment, coaches will be allowed to coach players during the matches, he said.
Thirty two players, including Serena, will vie for top honours in the tourney, which offers a total prize money of USD 600,000.