While her mixed doubles partner Rohan Bopanna was more guarded in his post-match response, Mirza could not help but surrender to emotions.
“You know it’s hard, it’s very hard to digest something like this. An athlete gets one chance in four years to win, to come so close and lose is humbling. It will be very hard for me to focus now, but I will get back. This ranks up there as one of the most disappointing losses of my life.”
One understands the tumultuous phase Mirza is going through. Despite the period of unnecessary drama and unprofessional ugliness that led up to the Olympics, Indian tennis had looked all set to grab a medal, or even two, with veterans like Leander Paes, Bopanna and Mirza taking the court. That they will return home empty-handed is as shocking as it is embarrassing.
FACTFILE: Sania Mirza
- Age: 29
- Height: 1.73 metres (5 ft 8 in)
- WD Ranking: 1
- Highest Singles Ranking: 27 (Aug 2007)
After bowing out in the semis against Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram, Mirza and Bopanna had vowed to come back stronger in their bid to clinch a bronze against Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek on Sunday. But overpowering the Czech duo who are regulars in the doubles circuit was never going to be an easy affair.
FACTFILE: Rohan Bopanna
- Age: 36
- Height: 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
- Highest Doubles Ranking: 3 (July 2013)
- Highest Singles Ranking: 213 (July 2007)
As it turned out, it definitely wasn’t. It took Hradecka and Stepanek slightly more than an hour to demolish the Indian pair 6-1, 7-5. Ironically, Stepanek played a crucial role in ousting the Indians from the Games as his once men’s doubles partner Paes was left to watch from the sidelines.
Regardless of what Mirza and Bopanna say about complementing each other’s game, the fact remains that their failure to come together and play doubles regularly before the Olympics has been one of the reasons behind getting outclassed by a regular team.
THE CZECHS OUTCLASS MIRZA-BOPANNA
On Sunday, Stepanek held his serve in the first set, as did his partner, unlike the big-serving Bopanna. Soon, the Indians were trailing 0-4, which progressed to 1-5, courtesy a brief rally. It was too late, however, to salvage anything from the set and the Czech pair duly closed it up 6-1 within a matter of a few minutes.
The second set promised an Indian resurgence initially with Mirza and Bopanna stepping up and earning break points off Stepanek and then Hradecka. But it was too early for celebrations. Familiar woes returned as a 3-1 lead was squandered and Mirza was broken at 5-6, leaving their opponents partying at their bronze medal victory.
Indian tennis flattered to deceive once again at the Olympic Games, this time more due to internal feuds than technical issues. Paes and Bopanna had crashed out in the first round itself due to perceptible lack of practice and communication, as had the inexperienced team of Prarthana Thombare and Mirza.
With the mixed doubles pair – the country’s best bet at a medal – faltering now, one is left to speculate whether the man who had brought India’s solitary medal in tennis at Atlanta in 1996 would have been a better partner to Mirza rather than Bopanna.