It was a meeting of hearts, literally! For, India’s best-ever women’s tennis player and six-time Grand Slam winner Sania Mirza had a pleasant surprise on Wednesday night when former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli made an appearance at her home for dinner in Dubai.
Neighbours now
“I have known Marion from the junior days and she has been an amazing champion. It’s wonderful that we are neighbours now,” said Sania. It may be mentioned here that the star India tennis player is currently taking a forced break from tennis because of the second wave of pandemic after being part of the Indian team for the recent Billie Jean King Cup World Group playoffs against Latvia which India lost 1-3.
Bartoli’s husband, Yahya Yahya Boumediene , is a professional footballer and is currently in Belgium to see his mother, and she herself is now into coaching, mentoring Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who won the 2017 French Open. “She is an old friend of Sania and the two have a wonderful chemistry as they know each other for close to two decades,” said Imran Mirza, father-cum-coach of Sania.
“It is always a nice feeling for Sania to see someone who has a similar wavelength on many subjects relating to the sport and, more importantly, the two share mutual respect,” he said.
Imran also said that Sania has been really working hard to maintain the desired fitness level and is eagerly waiting for the situation to pave way for some sporting activity.
