Pattaya: With sellout crowds and a fanatical following back home, it seems like Sania Mirza has already cracked the big time in women's tennis.
However, ranked just 49 in the world, fifth in Asia, and with a sole WTA title to her name, India's favourite sporting pin-up is eager to climb the rankings and give her fervent supporters even more to cheer about.
"My goal is top 15 or even top 10 in the next two years, and I certainly have enough people pushing me towards that," said Mirza, who was elevated to a fashion icon and sporting heroine in cricket-mad India after becoming the country's first female tennis tour champion in 2005.
Even outside India, Sania has won the hearts of expatriates, and almost caused a stampede, when Qatar-based Indians flocked to see her win a silver medal at the Asian Games in Doha recently.
"People from India are very emotional about their heroes," said Sania in an interview in the Thai beach resort town of Pattaya.
"If you're good at sports, you're idolised on and off the court, and when Indian fans get the opportunity to watch me, they seem to get very excited.
"I remember the days when I was lucky if I got three people turn up to watch me. It's great to have this kind of support," she added.
Sania will be under the intense spotlight next week, when she competes in the Bangalore Open, for which organisers have received an avalanche of accreditation applications from local reporters and photographers.
Brave player
Her fourth round finish at the US Open in 2005, the best by an Indian woman in a grand slam event, served to boost her celebrity status, but cranked up the pressure.
The Mumbai-born player insists pressure and expectation are part and parcel of the game, however.
"I've seen so many players struggle, but I've got used to it, I'm coping well," she said.
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"It was intense playing at the Asian Games, but I handled all that, because I can shut most of it out, and that's important."
Hailed recently as "a brave player and a fighter" by Australian Open champion Serena Williams, Sania says she fears no player, and puts her bullish on-court demeanour down to years spent as an underdog written-off for being too small.
She tasted her first success as a pint-sized eight-year-old, dismissing girls twice her age on the way to the semi-finals of a regional tennis tournament.
Sania says she has her assertive mother to thank for introducing her to tennis.
"When I was six, I wasn't allowed to play because I was tiny," she said. "I came from a sports-mad family, and my mum complained to the local club to make them let me join.
"The coach phoned four weeks later and said he'd never seen a girl hit a ball like that before. Things just took off from there."
Although a little tricky, Sania tries to keep a low profile these days while at home in Hyderabad, where she attracts the kind of attention from media and advertisers normally reserved for glamorous Bollywood film stars and Test cricketers.
"People are following me in that kind of way, its fine," she said.
"It's been like that for the last few years now. It seems I just have to get used to it."
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