Tennis star Sania Mirza on Thursday became the first Indian to be nominated for the Fed Cup Heart Award. Sania is the nominee for the award from the Asia/Oceania Zone alongwith Indonesia’s Priska Madelyn Nugroho, the tournament announced.

“Six players have been nominated for the three regional Group I Fed Cup Heart Awards in recognition of their Fed Cup by BNP Paribas performances in 2020,” said the Fed Cup in its statement.

“The nominees are: Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit and Luxembourg’s Eleonora Molinaro from Europe/Africa; Fernanda Contreras Gomez of Mexico and Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg from the Americas; and India’s Sania Mirza and Priska Madelyn Nugroho of Indonesia from Asia/Oceania.”

Voting for the award opens on May 1 and will end on May 8.

Sania played an integral role in India securing a first-ever place in the playoffs. She won the decisive doubles match that helped India secure their win over Indonesia in their final Group 1 match.

After giving birth to her child in October 2018, Sania returned to the court in January this year. She clinched the women’s doubles title at Hobart International, pairing up with Nadiia Kichenok, in her comeback competition.

With the world coming to a standstill due to the coronavirus outbreak, sporting events across the globe have either been cancelled or suspended and Indias star tennis player Sania cannot wait to go back to the tennis court.

Taking to Twitter, she wrote: “Waiting to play tennis again like.”

Sania recently shared a photo of her son with a tennis racquet in hand, looking confused. “I am pretty sure he’s thinking what the fuss is all about? #IzhaanMirzaMalik”. Sania said in her Twitter post.

Sania last played at the Qatar Open in February. She has helped raise Rs 1.25 crore in one week which will help close to 1 lakh people in need during the 21-day lockdown to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently Sania celebrated her 10th marriage anniversary with husband and veteran Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik.

Sania shared a couple of pictures with her husband Shoaib on social media and wished him a “Happy Anniversary”.

Sania and Shoaib tied the knot in 2010 here and have a year-old son named Izhaan.

From 2003 until her retirement from singles in 2013, she was ranked by the WTA as India’s No. 1 player in both the categories. Throughout her career, Mirza has established herself as by far the most successful Indian women’s tennis player ever and one of the highest-paid and most high-profile athletes in the country.

Agencies