Self-critical Sania Mirza wants strong finish to 'below par' 2017 season

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New Delhi: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza won just one tournament this year and that too came way back in January in Brisbane.

In this below-par season, her win-loss record is 25-12. However, the player ranked seventh in doubles ranking hopes for redemption at the last Grand Slam of the year - US Open, at the end of this month.

"I had set the benchmark really high by winning 5 or 6 titles every year for the last 4 or 5 years," she told ESPN. 

"I am very ambitious and always very critical of myself. Anything less than what I think of myself is not going to be enough for me. I have to count the positives. I have played the final of a Grand Slam this year (Australian Open mixed) and many people don't play the final of a Grand Slam ever in their life."

"It is all relative. My goal is to win a number of titles and if I don't it is not a successful year. For me it has been a below par year in terms of my own expectations. But I have to stay positive. That's the way tennis works. You have new challenges every day, so you have to keep hoping for the best and believing that it is going to come."

After her split with Czech Barbora Strycova in March, Sania has been struggling to find a suitable partner for her.

"It is very difficult, I have not changed partners by choice," she said. 

"It is just something I have had to do. For the last few years I have always had a constant partner, whoever I have played with has been the same for the whole year. Yes it has been a difficult process, also because everything was always last moment."

"Shvedova got injured three days before entries closed for Wimbledon, so everything has been a bit complicated. But when you have such a long career, you have to just go along with it. Luck is not always going to be in your favour. It won't always be hunky dory, you have to fight through the tough times, keep going, put your head down and keep at it."

The US hardcourt season has begun and this week in Washington, Sania is teaming up with Monica Niculescu of Romania and they are the top seeds. 

Sania will then team up with China's Shuai Peng for the remainder of the hardcourt season with tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati ahead of the US Open.

"On paper, we should be good," she said. 

"You never know until you step on court on how it will pan out but on paper we feel like we can do well together. My strength is obviously the forehand side and hers is the backhand side. She has a very good serve, which helps and she is good under pressure as well. I have known her all my tennis life, since we were 12-13 years old. We have had some great matches against each other but we have never played together. It will be interesting to see, we have a large percentage of the world's population behind us!"

Last week, at her academy in Hyderabad, she hosted a WTA Future Stars event, where she offered playing tips to a bunch of kids.

"This is the first week of the hardocourt season, so regardless of what happens, it is more of a practice week," she says. "Hopefully closer to US Open I will feel better and better, hitting the ball on the hardcourts," she concluded.