Saina may go where Sania has not

The badminton champ stays focussed, but the tennis player is more often seen in gossip columns.

Saina Nehwal is looking for a travelling physio. Those who think they are good at the job, please apply.

Before you think this column has been taken over by classifieds, Umpire’s Post would like to clarify that the first line is purely an outpouring of concern. This column would not like to see Nehwal go the way of her fellow Hyderabadi, Sania Mirza.

The intent is not to belittle Mirza. She has achieved more, much more, than any other Indian female tennis player. But, it remains much less than what she could have achieved. She turned 22 on November 15, an age by which you know where the careers of female tennis players may finish.

As things are, Mirza, whose ranking has been in free fall (she is out of the top 100), is neither getting higher nor younger. Her best year yet was her first on the professional circuit, 2005, in which she reached the third round at the Australian Open, fourth at the US Open, and won her maiden — and only — WTA title.

These days, news items about her talk about her supposedly dumping Bollywood actor Shahid Kapur in favour of Telugu actor Navdeep Pallapolu, her views on pre-marital sex, and her getting a doctorate she may not like to display on her mantle piece. But she may not have much to choose from, as she has not been winning anything that can be put on the mantelpiece.

Nehwal, like Mirza, does not have a long line of female Indian badminton players behind her to take inspiration from, but, at least, she seems focussed. With former All England winner Pullela Gopichand as coach, she has broken into the world’s top 10. Announcing herself on the world stage by winning the Philippines Open in 2006, she has won four tournaments this year, including the Chinese Taipei Open and the World Junior Championship.

The World Badminton Federation has voted Nehwal the “most promising player of the year”. She was elected out of three players proposed by the world body ahead of one Korean and one from Pan America. At the start of the year, she set herself the goal to break into the top 25. She has revised it to top five by the end of 2009.

It will not be easy. Although there are just nine women above her, this is where it gets really tough. Going by her statements, she seems to be on track. She seems to know her weaknesses, which is the first step in any improvement programme.

More importantly, her search for a travelling physio tells us she gives fitness top priority. Now, if only Mirza could get fitter!