This is an interview with six-time Grand Slam doubles champion Sania Mirza. I’m joined by Hanlon Walsh to discuss doubles strategy, playing with singles players in doubles, and the differences between mixed and women’s doubles.
Sania is not only a great doubles player, but she has had an impressive singles career as well. If you have not had the chance to watch her play, now is the time to do so before her retirement.
In this conversation we talk about:
- What it is like for her to play doubles with singles players, such as Madison Keys, vs. doubles players.
- What it was like for her to play with Martina Hingis and what made them a great team.
- How her approach changes for mixed doubles.
You will hear who she felt her toughest opponents were, her thoughts on weaknesses vs. strengths, and what we can do to make doubles more popular.
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Interview Notes from this Podcast
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- Follow Sania: Twitter | Instagram
- Playing with singles players vs. doubles players
- Sania feels like her time as a singles player helps her understand their mindset in playing doubles.
- When playing with players like Madison Keys, she makes sure to advise her in any way possible and allow her to play her style as much as possible.
- Playing with Martina Hingis
- She and Martina have said that they are each other’s best partners and felt like they always played their best together.
- They also played some really great singles matches against each other because their styles clashed well.
- Sania thinks Martina had such good instincts and an understanding of the court that her game was always great.
- What Sania changes for mixed doubles
- She doesn’t change anything really other than focusing on being a bit more aggressive since the points are naturally shorter.
- Opponents’ weakness vs. your strength
- She thinks you should consider both and if it’s a big point to attack their weakness.
- Her toughest doubles opponents
- She felt like Elena Vesnina / Ekaterina Makarova, Bethanie Mattek-Sands / Lucie Safarova, and Lucie Hradecka / Andrea Sestini Hlavackova among others were some of her toughest opponents.
- Dream partners
- Sania’s dream mixed doubles partner would be Andy Murray and her regular dream partner would be Serena Williams.
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