{image-maniac sania_16012008.jpg news.oneindia.in}Melbourne, Jan 16: Sania Mirza admitted that she considerd quitting after controversies began to haunt him one after another.

Sania, who breezed through the Australian Open first round with a straight sets victory over Iroda Tulyaganova, said she had now accepted that off-court rows were simply part of being India's highest profile tennis player. The latest fracas erupted this month when an AFP photograph showed her bare feet resting near the national flag at the Hopman Cup in Perth, prompting ultra-nationalists to launch a court case accusing her of insulting the nation.

Sania, who has previously ran afoul of Muslims for wearing short skirts and sleeveless tops on court, said she had thought about quitting when the flag row first flared.

"It does play on you mind," she said. "I'm not a politican here trying to outsmart people and fight, I'm trying to play tennis and I'm 21 and I'm trying to be the best I can be. A lot of thoughts went through my head in the last couple of weeks, one of the thoughts was that (quitting)."

OneIndia News