End of the road for Santina
BREAK UP Swiss Martina Hingis took the call to part ways with Sania Mirza, the reasons are not clear yet
RIO DE JANEIRO: One of the most successful women’s doubles teams in recent times has parted ways. It has been reliably learnt that Martina Hingis has conveyed to her partner Sania Mirza that she will no longer be partnering the Indian on the WTA Tour.
Reports suggest that Hingis will play with Coco Vandeweghe of the United States while Mirza will team up with Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. The 24-year-old Vandeweghe brings fresh legs to the partnership and the duo is likely to compete together in the US Open.
It appears that Hingis and Mirza have had differences after their mixed doubles run-ins. Hingis partners Paes in mixed while Mirza has been in the fray with Croatian Ivan Dodig. Their last two encounters have been evenly split. While Mirza and Dodig prevailed in the quarters of the Australian Open, Paes and Hingis got their own back by besting them to win the French Open title in a close match.
PIVOTAL ROLE
According to sources privy to the matter, Hingis got peeved that Mirza was unhappy after the French loss and that reflected in their interactions. The Swiss player has been pivotal in the recent success of both Mirza and Paes on the doubles tour. Mirza reached the top spot in the rankings after they won the Family Circle Cup last April, becoming the first Indian woman to do so. Paes and Hingis have completed a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles as partners.
Hingis and Mirza are ranked number one in the world of women’s doubles. Both have 10790 points which puts them far ahead of third-placed Caroline Garcia at 6605 points. The Indo-Swiss duo have claimed five titles this year, with the cherry being the Australian Open. That had ensured their berth in the season-ending $7,000,000 WTA finals in Singapore in October but it remains to be seen if the defending champions play together.
Meanwhile, a member of Mirza’s inner circle told the media: “Yes, the partnership is over. They have not got the desired results in last five months. You see, they have lost to players outside the top-100 and it reflects that something is wrong. But this is a regular phenomena, you can change partners if results are not coming.”
This is pure humbug. A team that’s number one in the world does not split over little things like short-term results. There is always something bigger. Such breakups only happen when there are strong other factors. The true undercurrents of this split are yet to come to the surface.
The Mirza camp in the past has been quite masterful at spindoctoring and shifting blame. In this particular case, the fact of the matter is that it’s not been the Indian’s call to end the relationship. Instead it’s been done at the behest of the Swiss player who was not willing to put up with some behavioural characteristics of the Indian player. Details on just what put off the former singles world number one are still sketchy but it’s certainly not a mutually agreeable decision.
Word from the Indian tennis team support staff at the Village suggests that Mirza has made many overtures to get Hingis to change her mind. She has repeatedly approached the player at the Village but it appears that the Swiss is not amenable to changing her mind. It’s a very tough call to walk away from an extremely successful partnership and Hingis must have really strong reasons for the same.
Hingis has been the pivotal factor in the recent successes of both Mirza and Leander Paes. The unhinging of the Santina combo could well see a major impact on Mirza’s world ranking.
The gutsy Indian, however, does have the tenacity to come back from frightful odds. She has an extremely aggressive personality and must have taken the slight of Hingis dumping her to heart. It remains to be seen just how she reinvents herself now and whether she would be able to hold on to her world number one ranking.