New Delhi: Feeling the heat of playing top flight tennis this year, Sania Mirza on Wednesday said her fans should not expect her to shoot up in world rankings as she did on her debut season on the professional circuit.
"I have always said that the second year was going to be tougher than the first. You cannot jump from top-40 to top-20 in two months," Sania said.
"Staying in top-40 is tough enough. When you are at that level, you play the top girls day in and day out."
"There has not been a lot of semi-finals (appearances) because the competition is deep. Every week you will be playing five-six top-10 players," the 19-year-old from Hyderabad said.
After the breakthrough season last year when she became the first Indian woman to win a Tour title and break into the top-50 in world rankings, the teenager has yet to reach a quarterfinal after 23 weeks of playing on the women's tour.
But a closer look at the scores would show that her matches have been close.
And while she has failed to string together a few wins in the singles, her performance in the doubles has been more than satisfying.
The title triumph at Bangalore and a final appearance at Amelia Island, on both the occasions with Liezel Huber of South Africa, has seen her jump to 39 in doubles rankings. That has given rise to more expectations from her at the Grand Slams.
"There are three more Grand Slams in the year but I have never had a stable partner, not more than two tournaments, except perhaps in the junior days. Liezel has been doing well and she hadn't had a fixed partner either," she said.
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