Sania Mirza, the young Indian tennis sensation was born on November 15, 1986 in Mumbai to Imran and Nasima Mirza. Later her family shifted to Hyderabad where she was brought up. She began playing tennis at the very young age of six years, under the guidance of her father, but started her professional career in 2003. This right handed tennis player received professional training from C.G. Krishna Bhupathi. She was coached at the Sinnet tennis academy in Secunderabad and afterwards went to the Ace tennis academy in USA. She is the uppermost ranked female tennis player that India ever produced, bearing a rank of 27 in singles and 18 in doubles. Sania Mirza is the first Indian woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam tennis tournament (26th in the 2007 U.S. Open Championship). Lately, in the WTA rankings of January 7, 2008, she has been ranked 31 in the singles category and 18 in the doubles category.

An overview of Sania Mirza’s career is as follows:

• 2003 wins four gold medals in the Afro-Asian Games and wins the Wimbledon Championships Juniors doubles tournament becoming the first Indian woman and the youngest Indian to win a junior Grand Slam title.
• 2004 wins the Hyderabad Open doubles and is the wild card entry in the singles where she loses in the first round.
• 2005 enters the third round of the Australian Open singles becoming the first Indian woman to reach the 3rd round of a Grand Slam tournament; wins the Hyderabad open singles tournament defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine; reaches the quarter finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships; makes it to the third round of Acura Classic; reaches the final of the Forest Hills Women's Tennis Classic, New York; reaches the 4th round of the U.S. Open by defeating Marion Bartoli of France; reaches the semi-finals of women's singles and doubles in the Japan Open tournament; makes it to the rank of 114 in doubles rankings.
• 2006 wins the Bangalore Open doubles tournament (pairing with Liezel Huber); wins the Sunfeast Kolkata Open doubles tournament and reached the semi-finals of the singles tournament; bagged two silver medals (one in singles and another in the team event) and a gold medal (in mixed doubles, pairing with Leander Paes) in the 15th Asian games at Doha, Qatar.
• 2007 wins the doubles title and made it to the final of the singles in the Bank of the West Classic tournament; claimed the doubles title and reached the semi-finals of the singles in the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open tournament, reached the quarter finals in the Acura Classic; defeats Martina Hingis in the East West Bank Classic; claims the doubles title along with Mara Santangelo of Italy in the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament; reaches the third round in the U.S. Open
• 2008 reaches the third round but loses to Venus Williams in the Australian Open singles and loses after making it to the finals of mixed doubles with Mahesh Bhupati.

Apart from tennis, Sania likes swimming and music. As a sportsperson, she is highly popular among the youth of India and has a huge fan following. Her favourite player is the renowned tennis sensation Steffi Graf. Sania’s ambition is to be among the top 20 tennis players of the world, quite fitting for a player who is such a storehouse of talent.