Does money matter for Sania?

Sania Mirza has to deal with a fresh flap after the tennis star pulled out of the Bangalore Open on Monday claiming that she was doing so to avoid stirring up another controversy. She withdrew from the WTA tournament saying that a new controversy seemed to crop up every time she stepped on the court in India.

But a section of the media reported on Tuesday that Sania pulled out of the tournament because she was offered less appearance money than she asked for. Sania’s father, Imran Mirza, reacted strongly to this. "This is exactly why we decided not to field her.

"My daughter is tired of the controversies that the media creates," Imran told this newspaper. "We gave the reasons for her withdrawal. There is no hidden reason for not participating in the Bangalore Open. Appearance money was never a point of contention," he added.

Sania had said that her manager (Mahesh Bhupathi, also the head of Globosport, the agency that manages Sania’s career and handled the Bangalore Open till last year) advised her not to play in India this year. Bhupathi could not be reached for comment on this new angle to the story as he is busy playing for India in the Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan.

Sundar Raju, the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association secretary and tournament director of the $600,000 Tier II Bangalore Open, said: "All I can say is that we, as an association, do not recognise any appearance cost. "If a corporate or a sponsor approaches us for a tie-up with a player, we try and mediate in order to facilitate sponsor activity at the tournament," he added.
Interestingly, Jaidip Mookerjea, the tournament director of Sunfeast Open, the other WTA tournament that is held in India, said the organisers of a WTA tournament do have a say in deciding the appearance money of a player.

"The organisers, the WTA and the player’s agent sit together and decide the appearance money," he told this newspaper.The former Davis Cup captain also expressed surprise at Sania’s decision. "I’m sure she has some very strong reason to pull out. I can’t accept controversies as a reason to pull out of a Tier II tournament held in one’s own country.

"She would have gained a lot of ranking points had she played in the tournament. Besides, she would have enjoyed tremendous crowd support," Mookerjea said.