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Indian tennis player cuts stereotypes
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-03 10:37
NEW DELHI - India has a new icon, and she's not a cricket player or a
Bollywood starlet. She's a tennis player.
Indian tennis player Sania Mirza holds Umesh,
3, who suffers from a heart disease, during a function organized by 'Save
a Child's Heart Foundation' in Hyderabad, India, in this Wednesday, Sept.
28, 2005, file photo. [AFP] | Sania Mirza seems to
be everywhere these days in her country: posing on magazine covers, promoting
health campaigns and endorsing everything from cars to clothing. All the while
she's fending off hostile Muslim leaders who say her revealing on-court outfits
are an affront to the religion.
For decades, top tennis players have been big stars in the West. In India,
the only sports celebrities to capture the nation's imagination have been
cricket greats.
That is, until 18-year-old Mirza started swinging her racket, last year
becoming the first Indian woman to crack the top 40 in the rankings.
In a little more than a year, she has emerged as a role model for millions of
young Indians, boys as well as girls. They see in her rise a reflection of their
own desire to succeed in a world where they have countless more opportunities
than their parents had.
Mirza's success "cuts the stereotype of Indian women in the world — that they
can only look pretty and are homemakers," said Astha Rawat, a 20-year-old
college student.
Or, as 18-year-old Anshu Bhushan, put it: "She makes us all Indians feel
proud."
Mirza's aggressive on-court style in many ways mirrors India's growing
profile on the international stage and plays well with the country's rising
middle class.
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