Sania Mirza excited to be in Roger Federer's team in IPTL

Hyderabad On a high after winning the WTA Finals doubles crown and a clutch of prestigious titles this year Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza says she is now bracing up for the International Premier Tennis League where she would in the same team as Swiss veteran Roger FedererI think it is going to be great for this region to have such great tennis players come out and play I think I am personally excited to be in the same team as Roger Federer I am looking forward to that I think it is a great format and hopefully it is going to click she told PTI here in an interviewSania Mirza Pic Yogen ShahThe IPTL features four franchise teams including India and is scheduled to start towards the end of next month The IPTL matches would played between starstudded teams comprising the likes of Roger Federer Novak Djokovic Andy Murray Pete Sampras among othersSania she was able to meet her targets for this season To finish off the season like this its good Basically I achieved what any tennis player wants to achieve in a year win a slam win a gold medal and win the India championships It has been an incredible year for me she saidEspecially to finish off the partnership with Cara Black this way on such a high winning the way we did in the final It has been pretty amazing she said Sania and Cara notched the WTA Finals title with a stunning 61 60 victory over defending champions Hsieh Suwei and Peng Shuai in Singapore last Sunday The 27yearold said she has had an extraordinary career so farIts definitely been an extraordinary career for me If someone told me I was going to achieve all this 10 years ago I would have taken it with both hands Its been a dream come true It is still going on I am living my dreams So I feel very blessed she said She said she would like to work towards becoming world number one soonIt should never be enough As athletes we should never be satisfied There is so much out there to win I definitely want to achieve a lot more I definitely want to get number one hopefully before I retire But also try and win a womens doubles Grand Slam next year There is so much left to achieve Till I have that hunger I will keep trying Sania saidSania said the tennis scene in the country is looking up especially in the mens category with several talented youngsters coming to the fore I think it is improving It definitely has I think the interest has gone up I think the infrastructure is better As you can see we have an academy like this Sania Mirza Tennis Academy on the outskirts of Hyderabad It was never there when I started playingBut we still have a long way to go to compete with the worlds best This is the most global sport in the world probably the most competitive You have to keep working There is no easy way out I hope there is some other woman before I retire who comes out and takes my placeI think the men are in a better position than we are We have a good set of boys who are playing well In the Asian Games we went with the second string teams in the men and we still came back with five medals They have Yuki Bhambri they have Somdev Devvarman who is of course a bit older now There is Sanam Singh there is Saketh Myneni There are a few good guys she saidSania expressed happiness over Prime Minister Narendra Modi wishing her after the WTA Finals triumph He Modi has wished me a few times in the recent past He is definitely very encouraging towards athletes and sports people They had the opportunity and honour to meet him a couple of times He is very encouraging both the times He wants sports to grow in the country That is very good news for India she said