Sania Mirza: Ankita Raina is hard-working and sincere

Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina will compete in Tokyo Games in women's doubles.

Sania Mirza is happy to be back on the tennis circuit with her two-year old son Izhaan.

Sania Mirza is happy to be back on the tennis circuit with her two-year old son Izhaan. She did miss quite a bit of the grass court season, much against her plan to to prepare well for Wimbledon and the Olympics in Tokyo.

There is unfinished business in the Olympics, her fourth, after the ones in Beijing, London and Rio. She had an agonising miss of a medal in Rio in mixed doubles with Rohan Bopanna, as the duo lost to Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram after winning the first set in the semifinals.

"It was one of the most devastating moments of my life, to come that close to winning a medal and not win it," Sania told to Olympics.com .

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The 34-year-old Sania, a winner of six Grand Slam titles and a former world No.1 doubles star has confirmed her Olympic berth by virtue of her injury protected rank of No. 9. She will compete in Tokyo in women’s doubles with Ankita Raina, ranked No.95 in doubles. There is suspense yet on the men’s doubles entry of Bopanna and Divij Sharan, for possibly a mixed doubles entry in the 16-team draw in Tokyo.

"Ankita is hard-working and sincere. She spent some time with me right before the Billie Jean King Cup," Sania observed. She had partnered Sunitha Rao, Rushmi Chakravarthi and Prarthana Thombare in the last three Olympics.

"I have never gone into the Olympics with a fellow female Indian player who is top-100 in the world. It is really good to play with someone who is on the tour on a regular basis. She has a long way to go, but at least, she is there’’, said Sania.

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Having only played Qatar Open and the Dubai Open this year, before the current event in Eastbourne, Sania would be keen to get some matches in Wimbledon.

Commending her parents and sister Anam for the tremendous support, Sania said that her son was very cooperative in letting her focus on her game. "Izhaan is a very loving, caring boy. He understands when I say I am going to practice and stuff," said Sania.

Thus, Sania has been able to train well in recent weeks. "I have been doing a lot of on-court work. I have been training off-court as well. I have been doing a lot of explosive movements and agility work just to stay sharp and powerful," she said.