Sania Mirza - Women's Doubles Tennis Champion The 100 Women Interviews

Currently the world number one in the women's double rankings, Sania

Mirza, the first woman to make the position. -- Indian. She has an

iconic status in the country that has been attacked several times by

critics for her gender and religion and even who she chose to marry.

Today I will talk to her about her journey and the controversies she

has suffered. Sania Mirza, thank you very much for being on our 100 Women

show. You started playing tennis at the age of six. Who introduced you

to tennis? Both my parents are my mother first. They wanted their

child, boy or girl, to play a sport, because sport is close to our

family's hard to be my mother was the first one who took three to the

tennis court. -- heart.. I remember that day. I remember her saying, she

is going to play, even though the coach said she is too small. She

said, if you don't take her, I will take her somewhere else. It was oath

of them, but my mother at the beginning to pushed it more. --

both. My dad thought I was too young. In an Indian context, is that

you need, where you have a mother taking a daughter and introducing

her to a sport? -- unique. I think, especially a sport like tennis,

which is not really... It is not so much... Especially 20 years ago, it

wasn't really played a lot, especially by girls. We didn't have

any champions at that time you could look up to and say, I want to be

like her or him guilty whatever. There was one before me. -- or. But

I didn't know who he was at six years old, of course. Playing it and

wanting to be professional at it as a young girl was a big deal.

Socially and... You know... Just in general... People didn't think

tennis would be a professional sport, like a profession, that you

could do. It is just something you can play and then automatically get

back to studying. And then, do you want to be a doctor... What kind of

comments did you have from the wider community? Did they think it was

strange? Not at six, of course. I used to play tennis and swim and

rollerskate. I was better at tennis so I took that up.

(LAUGHING). At six, I didn't know, of course, no one does. I used to

play six days a week in the afternoon. Light, as I grew older,

people thought, OK, she is going to play like all the other do and then

it will be as all out at some point. -- But,. When she is 13 her

time will come... But it didn't happen. I kept getting better. At

around 12 I realised how good I was, to be honest. That is when I knew,

wow, I won the under 14 and under 16s on the same day. I thought, I

must be really good at this. -- 14s. That is when I let I should keep

laying. But after that point when I got older, of course I got some

common. -- playing. They're asked -- there are certain dos and don'ts.

Playing inside is for girls and outside is for boys. I had a kind of

Barbie dolls as well, so I wasn't just a tomboy. -- a lot of. But many

people were saying, I need to focus on my studies, how make a living?

These are the questions it used to come all the time. Did you think you

could do this professionally early on? Only a handful of Indians were

competing on an international stage. All of them were men. Like I

said, I don't remember a day where we all sat down as a family and

that, from today on we will be a professional tennis playing family.

It just took off. My parents took pride in everything I did. When I

was eight I was playing a state tournament. She was 16 years old. I

was eight. At eight you don't know a lot of things. But when you beat

someone who is 16 unique have to be good at what you are doing. -- you

know you have to. I don't remember much but I remember that day, she

was crying and she went off the court because she lost to someone

half the size of. Suddenly, India had this woman representing them

internationally. -- half her size. I remember a surge of pride in the

country. Dear remember that? I first tasted stardom... -- do you. I was

going somewhere and there were so many people at the airport. Then I

was in this open anything with 50 guards around me. It was... It was

surreal. It was unbelievable. -- open-air thing. But when I made a

transition to the seniors player league I was still young. But I felt

I was around still tell a long-time. Yeah... I remember my phone going

off non-stop. I remember my parents were not in the country and I was

supposed to play Serena and my phone would not stop reading. I came back

and all was doing was interviews and endorsements and shoes. -- ringing.

-- shoots. I was everywhere, in the newspaper, the television, it was

amazing for an eating rolled at that once. But everything comes with good

and bad. -- 18-year-old. There was a lot of pressure. But for the most

part it was good. I remember a headline,. You had all this

pressure. -- Sania Mania. You got criticised for the clothes you were

wearing to play these board. Did that get to you? -- play the sport.

It is tough to grow up in the limelight. It is tough, anyway, when

you are a girl to be in the limelight. People are looking at

what you were and what you it. But as a teenager, people make calls as

a teenager that you might not now. -- wear and eat. There is a

difference between a teenager and a famous person sticking out of the

house, however. It did not make me angry. -- sneaking. I just felt it

was odd. That is the space I was in. That is funny. I was a teenager. I

didn't really understand. Like, I am playing tennis, what does anything

else matter? I saw myself as a tennis layer. But at 29 you

understand that every thing goes with being a star. -- player. So, it

didn't make me angry, but confused, that is the right word. You had

bodyguards and there was a report of some was so releasing some statement

about what you were wearing. Did that frighten you? It happened in

the past and I don't want to talk about it. There was a lot of

unnecessary Bedia hype. Everything I did got a little boring after some

point. -- media. So they made up a lot. I will write a book and

everything will be revealed in that. I believe many things were

taken out of portion. I did have security. -- proportion. When you

see things on the news you want to secure yourself. We eventually

learned that there was no threat... It is a long story. All I am saying

is that for someone who is 18-19 years old, of course it is

overwhelming. But I was a star. I had become a household name. For the

first time ever we had a tennis layer who was on TV and was doing

endorsements and speaking her mind. -- player. We had the first female,

so to say, a star. That was all in. -- star that was born. But I was

still a teenager. You were speaking in mind, you said. I think you have

said in the past as well that many times you feel you have been

targeted because you are a woman. Why do you say that? Not just that.

I don't think it is only because of that. I have never said it is only

because I am a woman. But many times it has happened. Everything goes

hand in hand. We love to see that our stars do not have a killer

instinct and the minute someone loses... Whoever it is... They say,

they don't have a killer instinct and that arrogance to win. But when

they do have a star and athlete, when they do find someone who has

that, they label them arrogant and they say, no, no, no, they should be

humble. To be a winner you have to have a certain kind of strength in

new, inside and outside. That goes way beyond the field of the tennis

court. -- in you. That his personality. At that point I is

spoke as I do today. -- spoke. Have you ever regretted speaking out?

Never, not at all. I think that... It is like... I would see one and it

was equal to four. -- say. Maybe to a large extent the media was going

after Mr Big we have become a -- after me. -- we have become a very

social media heavy society. But we were both growing together. A lot of

the things were selling newspapers and many of the things I was not

saying were selling newspapers as well. It helped a lot of people to

do that. They thought there was no harm. But many times people did not

realise that it is very difficult for someone in their teens or even a

30 rolled to deal with that. -- good or bad. -- 30-year-old. Sometimes

you don't want to see yourself in the open, you know? Do you think

different things would have been written if you were a man? I

don't... I think we live, to a large extent, in a man's world. I have

said that before. Many people come out and say that we don't, but the

fact of the matter is that if you are a woman you have to fight hard.

I think you can agree with me on that. That is just the way it works.

I think it has to do with the world, not just India and this side of the

world. The whole world is like that so, obviously, it doesn't just

happen in India like many believe. But it is a man's world, to a large

extent. But when a woman comes out and says this is how I feel about

it, she is labelled as rebellious or to outgoing or career minded. There

are no words like that for men. When a man wants to achieve something he

is labelled as ambitious and good. He is amazing. He is such a good

guy. He is driven. When a woman does that she is too outgoing. When is

she going to have kids and get married? She doesn't care about

family. Even now, when you have achieved so much, do you still get

those questioned about marriage and children? All the time. --

questions. I find it disrespectful to ask someone when they are having

a child. Just because I am a public figure it doesn't give anyone the

right to ask about what happens in my bedroom. Nevertheless, many women

are asked that. It is not just me. Many women in the limelight are

asked that. I was asked when I am planning to have a child, and I was

like, am I missing something? That was one of the questions I was

asked in a press conference. You are married to a Pakistani together, and

when you answer that question there was a lot of criticism against you.

Is that something you expected? We fell in love. We didn't think about

what country we are from. To be honest I think people expected us to

come out and say we are trying to build these relations between

Pakistan and India. We were not. We were trying to get married, and we

were in love and that could have been someone from Timbuktu for all I

care. It wasn't about that. It wasn't about which country he was

from. And him either, he got a lot of flak for no reason. Again, maybe

because he was a man it was different for him that it was for

me. What we did expect that it would make news. Everything makes news.

Did we expect it to go the way it was? No, most definitely not. But

your loyalty and patriotism towards India has been questioned. There was

a politician who even made a comment that... He called you the

daughter-in-law of Pakistan. That must have hurt you. It did, that is

why it... It more than hurt, it just made me really angry. Because I

think that... But then now, when I look back in hindsight, sure, we all

have emotions. And even though it might be shopping for some people,

asked celebrities, we do have emotions and we do feel angry and

hurt about things. Now, when I look back, I have gotten so much love. We

are a country of 1.2 billion people, and more outside India. I have

gotten so much love over the last 15 years that I have been around in the

public eye, that I thought, you know, if ten or 15 people have a

problem with you I don't think you should cry over it or get angry over

it. Because everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I... So I am not

angry any more. I was not angry, 20 minutes after that breakdown that I

had. Who was the one woman that you find inspiring? My mum, I think my

mum is definitely... She is very strong. We have very, very similar

personalities. Very impulsive. But we also, like, if we have something

to do we go and do it. We don't say let's do it tomorrow. That is never

the case. And as a tennis player I have always found Steffi Graf the

most inspiring. For me she has been an idle. Like you are saying, when I

was growing up I didn't really have a woman to look up to. But Steffi

Graf is someone I always looked up to. Now, your career has been on a

high this year. You have one, 2... Grandslam titles and various other

tournaments. Where do you go from here? I mean, I have literally had

six days. I played my last final on the second, and like a told you I

haven't been home since I went to Singapore. I have been in and out of

Mumbai. It has been really busy, it has been really good. But I start

training tomorrow because they need to get a couple of weeks in. Looking

forward to playing in December, getting some more training in there

and then we had to Australia. For me, Martina has been incredible. We

have won nine titles together, and I have won ten in a year. If you have

two totals in the year it is already a good year. So just put things in

perspective on how good the year has been, it has been a dream year. The

finish number one for me has been incredible. Sure, we have two... We

like to win more, of course, but people ask us where you want to go

from here. I mean, you don't necessarily have to go anywhere, you

just keep maintaining it. Hopefully we can win some more. It would be

amazing if we could start with another Grand Slam in Australia. If

you look at your peers right now, you have Serena Williams who is in

her 30 and still at the top. Our attitude is changing the older

players? Yes, also the game has evolved quite a lot. So I think the

breakthrough that you could make say 20 years ago, even when Martina was

able to win at 15 at the time, and 14, we had these kinds of players. I

think that today the game is so much more physical. That is tough for a

15-year-old, the sort of win Grand Slams. It is not as possible because

physically they are not as developed as 25 -year-olds, you know? That

also has a lot to do with it. But I think Serena is an unbelievable

athlete. She is one of the greatest athletes we have ever seen in any

sport. And to be where she is, and have the kind of body she has today,

how strong she is, she is a true example of what women can achieve,

you know, regardless of what age they are. And you have had praise

from the likes of her and Martina Navratilova, how does that feel? It

feels great. Martina is someone who has seen me for a very long time.

When I actually made my first day in 2003, she was in Hyderabad at the

first tournament I played. She has seen me for a very long time, she

has seen me for a very long time, she has seen Myhrvold. So it is

amazing to get praise from a person who has achieved practically

everything there is to achieve in the sport. And she won everything,

you name it -- she has seen me evolve. I am playing a couple of

exhibition matches at the end of the month of her as well. She is an

amazing inspiration, the way she has fought against so many things to be

where she is today, and she is still so amazingly fit, are close to 60.

So it was a true honour for me to get those words from her, and she

has watched two of my finals last year and this year and I happen to

win both. And I was playing really good in both of those finals. You

know, when tennis achieved pay parity as well, there were some

players that said the women should play five sets as well, not 3-set.

How do you react to that? It's fine, we were told that and we were like,

sure, no problem. I mean, they play five sets for four tournaments a

year, it's not like they play five sets all throughout the year, it is

the 4 tournaments that they play five sets for, and there is a lot of

counterarguments to that which I don't want to get into at this point

in time. But I think the fact of the matter is that what Billie Jean King

did for us as a sport, and for women, in our sport, is truly

incredible. And it should be recognised, every minute. And we

feel really blessed to have someone who has been there and who has done

that for us, so that we could get it to 2015, where we are today. As

four... Like I said, when you say a lot of men players, and a lot of men

players are not from India, not from the side of the world, they are from

all over the world. So obviously this kind of feeling exists

everywhere. Some pace as it is more pronounced, some places it is less

pronounced. I don't think playing five sets of three sets is really

the barrier whether one should get an equal pay or not. I don't think

because you play two sets more than us you should get more money than

us. That is a very silly argument, because we train... If not harder,

probably the same as the guys too. But anyway, it is pointless to speak

about that right now. I think it is a silly argument that because they

play two sets more they should get $1 million more than people get

because they played three sets. In the 20 years, how much has the

investment and the attitudes for change? A lot. Attitude towards

women's sport has changed, the fact that we have a movie, a Bollywood

movie about a woman athlete, or in terms of just sport, I think before

when you said you were playing a sport it was kind of given that you

were going to play cricket and cricket is the only profession that

you are going to be good at, or you can professionally bone at, so to

say. What I think that -- professionally own at. Are we still

lacking a little bit, in terms of more global sports, like golf or

football or tennis? Yes, we are. But also, because they are much tougher

sportswear a lot more countries play it. A lot more infrastructure, a lot

more systems need to be in place. For me, whatever I did, whatever we

have done, it was all trial and error. And we didn't come out of

that system, we came out because our parents backed us. And you have

opened a tennis Academy in your home city. Is that a way of nurturing

future Sanias? Yes, not just future Sanias, but tennis has come a long

way over the last 12 years on Sunday that the breakthrough, and we don't

want it to go back. Tennis is a household name, people watch it on

TV and they understand, and 12 years ago it was a sort of like that will

stop you know, we didn't really have a household name that was recognised

on the street is a tennis player. I want a legacy of tennis to go on. I

don't want a legacy of tennis to go on. I

know how long I will play, maybe a year, maybe five years. And the only

way we can do that is to have more players coming out of play at the

highest level. So I have been asked this question so many times over the

last, you know, ten to 12 years, and I always come up blank. So I thought

finally we should do something about It. Sania Mirza, thank you for being

on the BBC's 100 Women.