By Jilawatan

The spring is definitely back in Sania Mirza’s step. India’s most famous sportswoman is back doing what she does best after her marriage in April to Shoaib Malik, the former Pakistan cricket captain and the tumultuous build-up to it.

“It’s one thing being in the limelight but this was something else,” she said, referring to the rare cross-border union between the two sporting stars that gripped their respective nations. “It was in our face 24 hours a day for two weeks.”

Speaking on another rain-affected day at the AEGON Classic at Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham, Mirza said that she was delighted to be playing again after a layoff of more than three months with a wrist injury.

And no, the controversy that raged before the ceremony concerning Malik’s disputed first marriage had not affected her tennis because she had not been playing.

Because of the intense and intrusive media coverage, the marriage was brought forward by three days. “It was very hard,” she said. “There’s always two sides to a story, but no one wanted to know Shoaib’s. Once April 12 was over, it all ended and we were both free to continue with our lives”.

The couple made the most of the circumstances, choosing to tie the knot while Mirza was sidelined and Malik, 28, was serving a one-year ban imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board for “poor performances and being a negative influence on the team”.

The ban was overturned on appeal last month, giving Malik the chance to revive his international career at the Asia Cup. The couple will be based in England for the summer while Mirza strives to get back inside the world’s top 50 and Malik is involved in series against England and Australia.

However, they have set up home in Dubai. Mirza, 23, said: “Our furniture has just arrived and we’ll be settling in in September. From there we can always make the short flight back to India or Pakistan.”

Mirza, who was brought up in a religious Shia Muslim family in Hyderabad, says that she met Malik six or seven years ago. “I’d see him from time to time, but earlier this year when I was playing in Hobart and Pakistan were touring Australia, I saw him again one evening at an Indian restaurant,” she said.

“He came over and we chatted, then he came to watch me play the next day. We saw each other again and then it became serious. It wasn’t a big deal for the families because we’re from the same culture and it was easy.”

No stranger to lurid headlines and living life in the spotlight, Mirza has been criticised, among other things, for wearing so-called revealing outfits and showing disrespect for the India flag when she sat showing the soles of her bare feet at a tennis tournament in Perth.

The first India woman to win a grand-slam title when she captured the 2009 Australian Open mixed doubles title with Mahesh Bhupathi, also of India, and the highest-ranked Indian female player in history with a career-best of 27, Mirza loves cricket, too.

“If you live in India you have to,” she said with a big grin. “But I know enough about the game to enjoy it.”

Malik, she revealed, is a pretty useful tennis player. “He’s supposed to be a beginner but he has a great eye for a ball,” she said.

Obviously enjoying life after marriage, Mirza denied reports in India that she will quit the game in a couple of years. “I have absolutely no plans to retire in the foreseeable future,” she said. “They’ve made it up.”

However, her wrist injury remains a concern and she is unlikely to team up with Bhupathi for the Wimbledon mixed doubles.

“I had surgery on it two years ago and that led to another problem,” she said. “I really need to be careful — it’s very much a case of managing it rather than fixing it, so I’ll probably skip the doubles for the time being.”

Disappointed after failing to take her chances against Tamarine Tanasugarn, of Thailand, in a second-round match, losing 6-4, 7-5, 6-1, Mirza heads off to Eastbourne on Friday to start preparations for qualifying for the AEGON International.

Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova breezed through her first-round encounter against Bethanie Mattek-Sands, winning 6-0, 6-3.

In blustery, dank and cold conditions, Sharapova said that it was tough for all the players, adding: “I knew this week wouldn’t be too good if last week was sunny.”

The 2004 Wimbledon champion cruised into the quarter-finals, dispatching Alla Kudryavtseva, her compatriot who famously beat her 6-3, 6-1 in the second round at Wimbledon in 2008.

The last two British players left in the draw also departed, with 16-year-old Laura Robson beaten 6-4, 7-5 by Yanina Wickmayer, the youngest of Belgium’s impressive production line, and the No 3 seed, while Anne Keothavong lost to Li Na, China’s No 1 seed.