Ace Against Odds by Sania Mirza was the most awaited autobiography of 2016 after Sachin’s book Playing It My Way. And it should be. Sania Mirza is a leading Tennis sensation of our country who is always in limelight both for her game and controversies.
This year I have read many sports autobiography. All of them follows a fix pattern- Childhood days, how game became their dream and they become professional players, matches won and loss, few anecdotes here and there, expressing gratitude, how much they love their country, clearing their names in any controversies and lambasting media. Sania Mirza’s autobiography is no different.
Ace Against Odds has full record of all the matches won and lost by Sania Mirza. It was interesting to read for a while about her matches won and lost after that it became tiring to read it. Why can’t these sports person write something more than games won and lost.These things are also mention in Wikipedia.
It would have been more interesting to read about the technical aspect of her game. She did write about shortcomings in her game and about her deadly backhand. But that’s it. Nothing in details.
She should have concentrated on the technical apsect of the game. What were her weakness and strength. How she tried to correct it and what were the results. She never concentrated on that part. It could have been a great read for any budding tennis player.
The entire focus of the book from time to time was to talk about the controversies which kept surrounding her career. How media always maligned her image and deliberately created controversies for TRP. She wrote about all the controversies in details and cleared her name in each one of them and thrashed media persons for doing so.
Another thing which I wished to know about Sania was how she managed her married life and career so well. It is quite difficult for many Indian women to manage both together as a consequence they give up one for another.
But there is only one chapter on Shoaib Malik in that also she seems to reprimand media for constantly following her and Shoaib. We all know about all these things. What I wished to know how she is managing a long distance relation and how solid it is.
How significant was the contribution of her husband and his family in her career after marriage was completely missing from the book. It might have inspired the in-laws, in general, to support their daughter-in-law in achieving her dreams.
Insights is the right word which was missing in the book. There is hardly any insights which makes reading this autobiography wee bit boring. It could have been a very inspiring story had she concentrated on the technical aspect of her game and the secret recipe of her marriage.
At the end of the book she wrote about the world class academy she is building which will help the budding and aspiring tennis player. Here again we could do with some insights. Why India is not able to produce tennis player for single version of the game. How she will be contributing in the improvement of the infrastructure.
Also she has not retired from the doubles as yet then why did she rushed to write an autobiography. Her end of partnership with Martina has not find mention in the book as it is a very recent event.
The Verdict:
I am a big fan of Sania Mirza. Right now she is one of the the greatest female sporting star in India and an inspiring figure for many girls in the country but sadly same thing cannot be said about her book.
The autobiography is more about the sequences of matches she played and controversies she was involved in rather than her analysis, insights, thought process.
