Worked on footwork, sliding, muscle strength for French Open Qualifiers: Ankita

India has not had a female player in the singles main draw of a Grand Slam since Sania Mirza played at the Australian Open in 2012 and a gritty Ankita Raina is all fired up to change this statistic in the French Open qualifiers, beginning tomorrow.

It all began at the WTA event in Mumbai and a phenomenal Fed Cup, where she remained unbeaten in singles and also beat a top-50 player. The performance brought about a change in perception about her.

Consistent results in the last six months on the Pro circuit helped Ankita to not only break into the top-200 for the first time in her career, but also force authorities to include her in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) for which she was earlier ignored.

She is only the fifth player in India's tennis history to break the top-200 barrier.

Out of other four, Shikha Uberoi and Sunitha Rao were US-based players and only Sania and Nirupama Vaidyanathan trained and flourished in India.

Enjoying her career-best rank she is now knocking on the doors of a Grand Slam.

Ranked 181, Ankita now has a chance to revise the history.

After returning from China, where she played four ITF and WTA events, she had little time to fine-tune her game with her coach Hemant Bendre in Pune ahead of the big test.

"I had three days in Pune in which I had to get my UK visa. The three days I got I worked on the foot work and sliding which is required on clay courts. Also while I was travelling I was doing strength exercises for the muscles that help to balance while sliding. Plus I have two days in Melbourne," Ankita told PTI about her preparations.

The 25-year-old understands the enormity of the occasion but would like to keep it simple.

"I have always had a lot of dreams and goals for my tennis with most of them coming