Dhoni, Federer are my role models: Shikha Uberoi

In India, only a few dare to think differently. A perfect example of this is the young and vibrant Shikha Uberoi aka ‘Shikh-star Uber-cool’.

In this country, people are taught to only follow the ‘trend’, to do only what is well-known. Change is unacceptable. But only a few dare to think differently. A perfect example of this is the young and vibrant Shikha Uberoi aka ‘Shikh-star Uber-cool’. Taking up tennis as a profession, she raised quite a few eyebrows. Challenging the critics, she proved her decision right by making a place for herself on the international circuit.One can learn the art of being humble with the desire to achieve something in life, despite the success and fan following, from this fun loving girl. This extremely down to earth star talks about tennis, modelling and life beyond the court.

Born and brought up in Juhu, Mumbai, she started playing tennis at the age of six and now is a professional tennis player. However, her dream job still is working in front of the camera; perhaps getting into broadcasting or journalism. She loves dancing, gorges on hot chocolate and has a fetish for food cooked by her Mom. A perfectionist at school, she is also an avid reader. And yes, she is Single..! When one comes across this Indian tennis champ, a shock in terms of ‘stardom-meets-the-girl-next-door’, greets them. The general perception about sports stars for a layman comprises vocabs such as ‘arrogant’, and ‘high in the head’ among others. But this youthful, energetic and charismatic girl defies all the above to floor you with her spontaneity and sense of humour. Tanvir Khan of Zeenews.com caught up with the upcoming superstar of the tennis court in a candid mood. The chat started off lightly, discussing movies and a career switch to Bollywood for Shikha, and me, as a side hero with us not releasing the movie in any part of the world where people understand Hindi or English, so that people have no idea how bad we are at acting. Further, we went on to discuss the ways to uplift the game in the country, moved to Roger Federer, and conferred about life with a pen in hand instead of a racquet. Excerpts from the interview: On growth of tennis as a sport in India... Frankly, it has grown quite a lot when compared to other sports in India. It is still in the shadow of cricket to some extent. But we are doing well I think. With cricket being the ‘religion’ of the Indians, it is always difficult for any other sport to make an impact and make people watch it. It’s kind of hard to match that. But it has started giving cricket tough competition. People have started watching it, thanks to Paes, Bhupathi and Somdev. Oh! And me sometimes too (laughs). Sania and Yuki have taken it to another level altogether. Indian Tennis over the last 5 years... It’s growing and I’m so happy. I’m happy for Somi and Yuki and Sania winning the Mixed Slam. Paes has been exceptional as well. And of course Kash (Prakash) and Bhops (Bhupathi) have been doing well too. Now it’s my turn (winks). So yeah, we are in the mix. We are out there. It is just a matter of time when we will be at the pinnacle. On junior champions losing way and not winning Grand Slams... Well it all starts from the grass roots and creating a champion. You have to find one and nurture one and show a person what they can potentially be. We don’t follow through with any of that in our country. I think that’s just in cricket. On the other hand, Paes and Bhupathi have captured many grand slam doubles and mixed doubles titles. I do appreciate the efforts of Mahesh and Leander for opening up academies and such to reach out to create a grand slam champ. I think it’s a matter of time and it will happen.On being asked if women don’t get along well on court (and off it as well!)...because there haven’t been any women’s doubles grand slam trophies, like men’s doubles... (Laughs out loud as she gets the covert point) We do. Actually, I don’t understand women so well even though I am one. They are difficult to understand. But wait...didn’t Neha and I get along? Weren’t we good? Neha and I have reached two WTA Finals together, the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata in ‘05 and then the one in China in ‘05. We have reached some semis together too. Your preparations for your tournaments ahead…and the pressure to perform on international stage… Well now I’m making my comeback and my ranking is 501. Yayyy... I’m happy because it was 800 for the longest time. That, certainly, is an improvement. I’m not currently in a position to play slams, but when I was playing them, I think it was very tough mentally. I expected so much. It was my desire. I wanted it and I knew I could get it. I just got in my way too much. It was just me stopping myself from displaying my full potential on a consistent basis and that’s the mental part, that’s where I thought about wanting it so much and so bad. Tennis is one of the few sports that is followed apart from cricket. How does it help in nurturing new talent? It’s very important to nurture sports. We need to do more at the grassroots level, but I do think the talent is out there. I think we as players need to get to the smaller cities and promote it and I love doing that. Exposure, exposure and exposure… that’s all it takes baby! Well, initially. What’s required from the authorities or the govt? What would make things better for Indian Tennis? I think recruiting players from all over is a great option, or just recruiting talent just like the Chinese did. Then they set up a whole camp, trained them and created Champs. But for that we need money and when money comes along people start salivating and they salivate and somehow money is no longer there. … all goes into the stomach? Yea… the pocket looking stomach! On her training and asthmatic problems… I am in a permanent state of training! Have I been training? That’s like asking a fat man, have you been eating cake? (Chuckles) I’m training really hard and yea asthma is under control and I’m so happy. Role models… I consider Roger Federer and MS Dhoni as my role models. If God played tennis, he`d play like Roger Federer! Mahi because he is so humble, so down to earth and a true leader. I see him like the Federer of India. Plus, I have a gargantuan crush on him (giggles). Future tournaments… I have some Challengers in the US coming up now, till August. I’m bringing my ranking back up to higher than what it once was. I plan to come back to India in August to maybe do some endorsement work etc. Then I’ll go back to USA and play more Challengers. What apart from tennis? I just love dancing! I work very hard for my charity, ‘The Uberoi Sisters Foundation’. I love going for movies. I like writing poetry and I’m starting my autobiography. On how she interacts with her fans… I have opened an account on a social networking site. I didn’t give people a chance to see me before, so now all my fans can know me. It would be so cool if I got a bit more exposure. I also write blogs, http://uberoisis.blogspot.com/, where I can share whatever I want with my well-wishers. How about a career in modelling/ movies? I think I would love to do that as long as I am depicted in a decent light. I like my last name and I don’t want my family to disown me (grins), but I have a feeling dad wont be too happy with me doing that. Let’s see if we can convince him (winks) . Hasta la Vista moments… After talking on professional terms, ‘Shikhstar’ aka Shikha ‘Cool’ Uberoi and I argued over who had a better sense of humour, which went in Shikha’s favour as she was proven to be elder to the interviewer. She later helped with pictures that needed to be uploaded along with the interview ‘hoping to get some endorsements’ through Zee News. The 26-year old, who was a complete pleasure to talk to, signed off with a promise to wish me on my birthday later this month and also hog on a chocolate cake, no matter where she is, on my behalf, asking the coach not to interfere as the day would be ‘Mr Khan’s birthday’!