Having reached as far as the semi-finals of the French Open junior doubles, rising tennis star Sania Mirza is now concentrating her energies on Wimbledon later this month.
The 16-year-old Sania is definitely pleased with her showing at Roland Garros but knows she still has a lot of ground to cover, especially as far as singles is concerned.
"I am happy with the way I played in French Open. We reached the semis (in doubles), but I had a bad singles week," Sania said in Delhi on Sunday, on her return from Paris.
Sania and Sanaa Bhambri reaching a Grand Slam semi-final was a significant achievement in the country's junior tennis but the girl from Hyderabad has her feet on the ground.
Although India has more than one junior Grand Slam champion -- Ramanathan Krishnan (1954), Ramesh Krishnan (1979) and Leander Paes (1990, 91) -- what Sania and Sanaa have done in the doubles section is second only to Mahesh Bhupathi and Nitin Kirtane reaching the Wimbledon final in 1992.
Sania, who lost in the first round in the singles event in Paris, was quick to point out that singles is still the bread and butter for her.
"It is always good to play and win some doubles but my priority is still singles," she said.
Sania and her teammates will next play two junior events in Germany before moving to Roehampton, a tune-up for the Wimbledon junior championships, beginning June 30.
The Frankfurt leg is a claycourt event while the next at Halle is on grass. That and one more week at Roehampton should give the Indians ample time to adjust their game to the change in surface.
"Hardcourt is my favourite surface but I like grass more than clay," said Sania.
Sania said she was 'unlucky' to have fallen sick in Belgium, where she played a grade 1 junior event with other Indian players prior to the French Open.
She had high temperature and could not have proper practice. In fact, others in the Indian camp too suffered from various illnesses on their European sojourn.
"I was pretty unlucky that I fell sick on such an important tour but it was good that I was able to reach the second round at all (in Belgium)," she said.
