Exclusive | ‘Want to help them grow faster and how to handle pressure’ – Sania Mirza opens up on WPL stint

After calling time on her illustrious career, Indian tennis star Sania Mirza has opened up on her stint in the upcoming Women’s Premier League (WPL) which will kickstart a revolution in women’s cricket. Sania Mirza spoke exclusively to WION’s Sports Editor Digvijay Singh Deo on her role and how she will help the rising female stars adapt to pressure while also giving a hint on how to adapt to the game while they succeed in the long term. The six-time major champion was recently appointed as the mentor for the WPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and will be part of their roster.

“This mentorship means a lot of fun as I love doing things that are challenging but also helping these young girls to adapt to the sports that I have been doing for the last 20 years. A lot of them have not seen that kind of spotlight ever, so will try to help them with my experience and give them my experience of how that exactly feels to play under pressure and that has nothing to do with cricket and only has to do with the mental side of things, so I hope I can do that and help them grow faster and how to handle the pressure,” Sania said while speaking to WION Sports Editor Digvijay Singh Deo.

Sania enjoyed a successful stint as a major champion having won six titles and will be looking forward to mentoring the RCB side, led by Smriti Mandhana. Sania dropped the curtains on her Grand Slam career at the Australian Open when she lost in the finals of mixed doubles with Rohan Bopanna. The pair came second to Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos in the Australian Open mixed doubles final as the Brazillian pair clinched their maiden Grand Slam. She suffered an excruciating defeat of 7(7)-6(2) to end as runners-up at the Melbourne Park final. 

“Now one thing is for sure, my life is never going to be normal, whatever that means as much as I wanted to,” Sania concluded while speaking on her role as a mother.

Sania will be seen in the RCB corner in the WPL which will be played in Mumbai from Saturday, March 4. RCB will be in action for the first time on Sunday, March 5 as they take on Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The match will feature the brightest talents of the women’s game – Jemimah Rodrigues and Shefali Verma in the opposition camp while Meg Lanning will wear the captain’s armband for DC.