By IANS
New Delhi : India’s Davis Cup captain Leander Paes Tuesday said Sania Mirza should be careful in managing her celebrity status since everything she does is constantly under public scrutiny
Paes was a little hesitant to react to Sania’s Monday’s bombshell that she is pulling out of next month’s Women’s Tennis Tour (WTA) Tier II event, but chose his words carefully to say that no celebrity in the world can evade controversies.
The 21-year-old Hyderabadi Monday said “as of now” she was withdrawing from the Bangalore Open, starting March 3, as every time she played in the country she has been dogged by some controversy or the other.
Paes, however, felt that it’s high time Sania handled such issues in a better way.
“I don’t want to comment on this. I am least bothered about it, but at the end of the day who doesn’t have controversies? It’s not only with tennis players, cricketers, film stars all have controversies in their lives,” Paes told reporters at the end of Indian Davis Cup team’s practice session at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) here.
“We all had to face adversities in our careers. It’s about how you handle them, it’s about how you project yourself and it’s about how dignified and honest you are. Sania has to be very careful about all these,” he said.
Paes went on to say that the greatest pleasure for any athlete is to represent his country on the home turf.
“The greatest joy for an athlete is to play for his or her country and in the country.
“No individual is bigger than the game,” he said.
Since her breakthrough 2005 season, the 21-year-old Hyderabadi has been battling controversies ranging from her on court attire, which did not please some Islamic clerics, to media photographs showing her resting bare feet near Indian flag during the Hopman Cup in December.
The controversies perturbed the world number 29 and Asia’s number one, to such an extent that she at one point of time even considered quitting tennis before the Australian Open.
However, her decision to skip Bangalore event did not seem to go well with many with former Davis Cup captain Naresh Kumar too expressing his astonishment over her move.
“It is a big upset for the tournament. She has been asked to do a juvenile and immature thing,” Naresh said.
Agreeing with Paes, Naresh said Sania needed to handle her celebrity status with a right approach.
“All the stars have problems but you have tackle them. Pulling out of a tournament is not the solution. I think Sania has been misguided,” said Naresh.