Sania Mirza - Bold & Beautiful !

Name: Sania Mirza
Profession : Tennis Player
Country : india

Characteristics : Attitude, Fighting Spirit, stylish, dare devil, controversies, ambitious, public relations

My Learnings:

Attitude :
She loves Tennis. No questions about it. Without hard work, she would not be where she is now. I see a tinge of attitude in her. Yes. Why not?
"That's how I play. I'm going to have maybe 50 unforced errors one day, but I'm going to also have 50 winners that day. People just have to accept me the way I play. Maybe I can add variation to my game, but I'm going to win matches only when I hit those winners." - Sania Mirza
Yes..on court, you know the best as to what to do. When a ball is coming towards, you do not recollect coach telling you something ealier and how you are 'supposed' to return the ball. Just do it your way !

She also said "I just came here thinking I wanted to win one round and won three," .
Take is as it come. Enjoy what you do.

Fighting spirit:

Three surgeries in 5 years. It is tough for one to come back. Yet, she did it again and again.
Then there were some issues related to moral policing, religious leaders asking for her blood (remember short skirt issue) and crtics commenting how she can go only upto round 2 or round 3. She keeps aside all of them and fights. And see her spirit on the court. I have never seen her slowing her pace or playing defensive tennins. I like her statement - "If you expect me to play perfect tennis, I can't. What matters most is that I won."

Stylish

She has always been stylish on court and off court. Her game is stylish. See her forehand shots. They are the best. She has an amazing dress sense. And her T-Shirts used to give statements ! And she even walked ramp for the designers Shantanu and Nikhil. And the style certainly gets you more followers. Being beautiful is not your mistake ! Playing stylish helps !

Dare Devil

She is not scared. She does what she thinks is right.with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 7 in doubles, she is the first Indian female player to surpass US$1M in career earnings is not easy, unless you dare the devils inside !

Controversies

It is sad that she had to face too many controversies. First it was short skirt and even a fatwa was issued. Then came 'Insulting National Flag' and 'breaking the engagement'. Then the bigger controversy of marrying Shoaib Malik, a Pakistani Cricketer. Then the latest Olympics controversy, where she gave a very bold statement. And did any of these take her mind off tennis and did she go into shell? NO.. She is bold enough to manage all these.

Ambitious

She is ambitious and it shows in her aggressiveness. Only thing I did not like was one news item where AP Government refused to allot land for her Tennis Academy in the posh Banjara Hills ( Jublee Hills..I am not sure) long time back and asked her to focus on tennis than getting prime land at concessional price. If it was true, her team should have waited till she achieved something bigger. Now that she need not prove any thing to anyone, I am glad that she is starting an academy in the outskirts on a four acre land, where land is cheaper. I bet we see more Sania Mirzas from this academy.

Public relations

Press loves to write about her. Press loves to publish her photos. Yes. Why not. You play very well. You are good looking, stylish and a celebrity. It is good to be in news many times.

When to downplay !

She realized that her body can not take singles and now decided to play only doubles, where she is achieving great heights. This is a very good decision

Rahul Dravid - Selfless Gentleman Cricketer

Name: Rahul Dravid
Profession : Cricketer
Country : india
Characteristics : Gentleman, Attitude, Team Spirit, Loving the work, humility, Leadership, Technique, Adaptability, Focus, temperament.

My Learnings:
Attitude :
It was reported that Rahul Dravid used to come early for practice sessions and was never in hurry to leave.
Hard work always pays.

Patience:
"He will test your patience bit by bit until you forget your plan." - Shane Warne.
And for no reason they called him 'The Wall' ? Yes.. I am sure there is no need to explain !!

Technique over Talent:
Did you see Zinadine Zidane, Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo tackling the ball? It was/is a dance. It was Art. And Rahul's batting is pleasure watching when he is in flow. He may not be flamboyant and hard hitter with muscle power, yet the strokes were pleasure to eye. The talent and technique are unparalleled.
Every one has talent. You may acquire more talents, but one can excel well by improving the technique as to how you deploy your talents. Keep improving the technique.

Adaptability
Keeping wickets is a tricky job the teams always want a specialist wicket keeper batsman. Rahul was one of the best fielders in the slip and even became a wicket keeper when India lacked a good specialist wicket keeper batsman. This shows how adaptable he is and how one can take different roles, if you have the will to face it.

Recognizing Strengths and Weaknesses
Every one said Rahul Dravid is not fit for One Day Internationals (ODI). He too seem to have believed that, in the beginning. Then he came out of that and changed his technique to adapt himself to the shorter form of Cricket. 344 ODIs and scoring 10,889 runs with Highest score of 153, 12 hundreds and 83 Fifties is no mean achievement by any standard !

Humilty:
Did we ever see him demanding his share? Did you ever see boasting himself? He is shy of publicity and that is why he may not be as popular or as powerful as some other cricketers are, but, he never bothered about that. He just took everything on his stride and took it as it came.

When to retire ! And finally he knows when to retire. You know your body and you know how many youngsters are waiting for India cap! He does not like to hang around saying that he loves playing cricket and he will play as long as he can/want!
You may think you are indispensable, but, there may be many others who can do better job. Just move and give way to others!