Sport - Tennis

Mamic back with a win

Bangalore: Serbia’s Sanda Mamic has the ability to laugh at herself. And that, in an era when most athletes take themselves too seriously, comes as a welcome relief.

After defeating Taipei’s Yung Jan Chan 6-2, 6-2 in the Bangalore Open singles first round, Mamic spoke about the most troubled phase in her life with such disarming humour that the pathos in her life was nearly missed.

Mamic lost nearly two-and-a-half years on the circuit and slipped out of the top 100 as she underwent a series of surgeries.

“I broke into the top-100 more than two years back amidst a lot of pain. My left hand, that’s my playing hand, was in pain and a doctor in Austria said that I needed surgery and they realised that I have tendinitis, a broken ligament and an inflamed nerve.

“The surgery lasted three hours and my left hand was ugly, it is tough for a girl to cope with that ugliness. I also had a surgery in my head,” Mamic said, breaking into a laugh.

Mamic even found a silver lining in her exile from tennis.

“I studied, I got a job in the University of Information Technology in Serbia, teaching technology and if you guys want to know anything about computers, you know who to contact,” she said.