Sania Mirza ... Indian tennis prodigy

I happened to stumble upon a women's tennis match on television this weekend, which grabbed my interest. The match involved Maria Sharapova, the world's number 1 women's tennis player from Russia versus Sania Mirza, an 18 year-old rising tennis star from Hyderabad (pronounced Hi-deera-bad by the American announcer), India. Yes, India!!!, a country known more for Bollywood movies, outsourcing of IT jobs, and those funky accents, made popular by Apu from The Simpsons. I admit, I am a tennis fan, both the men and women games. Although, I do find the clothes that the women wear to be distracting. Sania Mirza, who describes herself as a practicing Muslim wears an attire, which even by her account is very unislamic. During a recent interview, she answered the question of being Muslim and playing tennis.

Not everyone is perfect and just because I wear a miniskirt or because I'm wearing pants doesn't make me a bad Muslim.

Recently, Sania's father requested the WTA to allow for her to wear more conservative clothing, but was rejected. It states in its rule book,

... (players) shall not wear sweatshirts, sweat pants, t-shirts, jeans, or cut-offs during matches.

The road to stardom for Sania has not been easy. She grew up and practiced in India, a country without good tennis facilities. The fact that she is a female athlete in a country where athletics are dominated by males is a surprise. Being a Muslim female athlete is even rarer to see since Muslim athletes anywhere in the world is not common. Having overcome these barriers, she has the opportunity to cash in with endorsements and match appearance fees. With over a billion fans in India, she is likely the most popular women's tennis player in the world.

As I watched the match unfold, which Maria Sharapova easily won, I cheered for Sania, hoping she would win. I am impressed with her courage, personality and talent. Part of me wanted her to win because she was South Asian, another part of me wanted her to win because she was Muslim. Is there anything wrong with that?