By Jilawatan

HYDERABAD: Sania Mirza is still as excited about playing in the famous Wimbledon grass court as she was when she took part for the first time as a teenager a decade ago. She has fond memories of Wimbledon.She made history when won the tournament (partnering with Alisa Kleybanova) to become the youngest Indian and the first Indian woman to win a junior Grand Slam title in 2003.“It’s been almost a decade since I first came to Wimbledon as a junior and I’m as excited about playing there as I was then,” said Sania in an email interview as she prepares for prestigious All England Lawn Tennis tournament.Sania, who is to be engaged to Sohrab Mirza, said she has “matured a bit” on grass over the years. But the 22-year-old tennis star, who recently improved her ranking to 20 places up from 98 to 78, feels that reaching the semifinal of the Aegon Classic tournament was her best performance in recent years.Commenting on her run of good form, Sania said it was going to be tough to get back to top level tennis, particularly after the career threatening injury (wrist) last year. “I’m not too unhappy with my performances after Australian Open, where I won my first ever Grand Slam title. I played a final at Pattaya and a semifinal in Birmingham in singles and I’ve also won a Tour doubles title and played in three more semis this year,” she said. But the Indian ace feels that although she has done well in the doubles tournaments, she would like to improve her show in singles. “I’d like to have done better in singles.” Sania, describing herself as “an aggressive player,” said she is more comfortable on grass and hard court tournaments.Her best performance in a Grand Slam tournament was in 2005 when she reached the fourth round of the Australian Open after defeating Marion Bartoli of France.The Indian tennis star will continue to pair with Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei in the women’s doubles. “We are comfortable as women’s doubles pair. In the mixed doubles, I will play with Mahesh Bhupathi,” she said. Sania won her first Grand Slam title in the seniors when she won the mixed doubles at the Australian Open partnering Bhupathi. Last year at Wimbledon, Sania crashed out in the second round after a marathon three setter against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Sania went down 0-6, 6-4, 7-9 in a match that lasted two hours and seven minutes.