Fed Cup challenge: Sania will inspire us to give our best, Ankita

Inform India tennis player Ankita Raina has said that top player Sania Mirza will inspire the team to give their best ahead of the team Fed Cup competition, which begins today.

With Ankita’s red-hot form and Sania Mirza’s assuring presence, India is expected to have a much better shot at the playoffs place.

The form of Ankita has been terrific since the start of the season, where she had won two ITF singles and as many doubles titles.

Although she is 160 in the single world ranking, which is her career-best Ankita always shows her grit during the Fed Cup games. The inform of the young player who has been punching above her weight has been giving opponent tough times.

She is in the best form of her life. This will be a big weapon to captain Vishal Uppal apart from multiple-time doubles Grand Slam champion Sania Mirza. The mother of one is returning to Fed Cup after four years.

Sania was able to make her recovery from a calf injury for the tournament after a three-week delay due to a Coronavirus outbreak, which emanated from China. The setback had forced her to retire mid-way from her Australian Open women’s doubles opener.

Speaking ahead of her partnership with the multiple double champions, Ankita noted that her experience would help younger players handle the pressure situations better.

While noting that she has had a good start to the season, Ankita said she is confident competing.  She added that Saniua’s advice and tips would be more than helpful to the young lads.

Apart from the duo, another mention in the team is Riya Bhatia, who has moved up in the ranks with new-found confidence. This will also be good for India’s chances of getting to the playoffs.

Although Karman Kaur Thandi has dropped in rankings after an injury, she now has the chance to regain her confidence and help the team qualify for the next stage.

It could be recalled that India was fourth at the Asia/Oceania Group I event the last time. With the personalities in their squad, they have a realistic chance of being one of the top-two from their group and subsequently secure next round berth.

India’s tough opponents in the group are expectedly China, who has the top 50 players – Qiang Wang (29), Saisai Zheng (34), and Shuai Zhang (35) in their squad; Chinese Taipei, who also have Su-Wei Hsieh in their ranks.

If India scales through the group, they will be involved in the Playoffs, which holds April 17-18.

 

 

Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed