[feseEscaple]

A young Indian man turned up at the home of tennis star Sania Mirza and threatened to kill himself if the tennis player did not marry him.

Mohammad Ashraf told Imran Mirza, Sania's father, that the tennis star could not marry anyone else as she "was born for me".

He also demanded that her engagement with family friend Sohrab Mirza, scheduled for Friday, be cancelled.

An alarmed Imran Mirza called the police who have taken him into custody
.
He has been produced in court and remanded for a fortnight.

Mirza, 22, is one of the top ranking players. She ranks 85 in the world.

'Threatening'

In his complaint to the police, Mr Mirza says Mr Ashraf claims to be in love with the tennis star ever since he saw her playing a match in Bangalore two years ago.

Mr Mirza has also complained that the youth was sending text messages and making threatening calls to his daughter for some time.

Mr Ashraf arrived at Ms Mirza's home in Hyderabad city's upmarket home in Banjara Hills area on Tuesday evening accompanied by his friend Devadeesh Mohanty.

"How can you engage Sania to another person when she was born for me?" Mr Ashraf is reported to have asked the tennis player's father.

"He was threatening to commit suicide if Sania did not marry him," Mr Mirza told the police.

The two men have been arrested and have been charged with trespass and creating a nuisance.

Mr Ashraf has been identified as a civil engineer from Bangalore.

Police say they have contacted Bangalore police to find out whether Mr Ashraf is mentally sound.

It is the second time in less than a month that Mirza has hit the headlines for the wrong reason.

Last month, the Andhra Pradesh state government found that a man had secured a white ration card showing Sania Mirza as his wife.

The ration card carried photos of the tennis star.

White ration cards are meant for the people living below the poverty line.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8140560.stm

[freddystone]

Sania is such a drama magnet. I'm just glad she's safe. For now.

[repldoinfo]

This is just wrong. I mean number 85 player in the world is considered to be top ranked?

[Stovegeothnon]

That girl cannot catch a break!

[TheBest-Host]

That girl cannot catch a break!

That's exactly what I was thinking. Criticism from her country, criticism from her religion, injuries, stalkers, etc.

[ManituIKOL]

That's exactly what I was thinking. Criticism from her country, criticism from her religion, injuries, stalkers, etc.

And in this day in age in the WTA, that's the perfect slam-winning formula!

[hacyOrgachbic]

Poor Sania! I'm glad she's safe.

[enactolaelant]

Haha, this is too funny!

[hacyOrgachbic]

Haha, this is too funny!

rabbit....a stalker is NOT funny!

[enactolaelant]

rabbit....a stalker is NOT funny!

I bet most moderately attractive and/or successful players on the WTA receive letters or calls from crazy guys wanting to date them or marry them or whatever. But most players don't dramatize the circumstances as much as Sania or Sania's team does.

[secondmertg]

I bet most moderately attractive and/or successful players on the WTA receive letters or calls from crazy guys wanting to date them or marry them or whatever. But most players don't dramatize the circumstances as much as Sania or Sania's team does.

Insert oohsalmon joke here ___________.

[feseEscaple]

It's one thing when some nut job sends you weird mail. It's another thing when they show up at your home. Thank goodness the situation was defused and no one was injured.

[hacyOrgachbic]

I bet most moderately attractive and/or successful players on the WTA receive letters or calls from crazy guys wanting to date them or marry them or whatever. But most players don't dramatize the circumstances as much as Sania or Sania's team does.

Letters? Sure. Phone calls? They probably change their numbers often enough...emails? Okay...the price of fame...

But....showing up at the HOME??? Ah no. That is alarming and dangerous. I bet most of the players on the WTA would tell you that this is going to darn far.

And rabbit there are fools out there who would kill themselves! That's a horrible situation to even think of being in, much less having it happen!

[enactolaelant]

OK, I agree the guy is a bit too much on the crazy side. Here's a pic:

[hacyOrgachbic]

Looney Tunes! I hope they keep him locked up until after the "engagement" is over.

[Stovegeothnon]

I bet most moderately attractive and/or successful players on the WTA receive letters or calls from crazy guys wanting to date them or marry them or whatever. But most players don't dramatize the circumstances as much as Sania or Sania's team does.

Not sure what Sania or her team are dramatizing. The facts of her life are the facts of her life. She's had a fatwa, been burned in effigy, has crazy people showing up where she lives... Curious where the dramatizing is coming in.

[Flatlytaize]

I saw her dancing on the Indian flag last night.

[hacyOrgachbic]

I saw her dancing on the Indian flag last night.

No way. Sania would NEVER disrespect her flag like that!

[Stovegeothnon]

I saw her dancing on the Indian flag last night.

LOL.

[enactolaelant]

Not sure what Sania or her team are dramatizing. The facts of her life are the facts of her life. She's had a fatwa, been burned in effigy, has crazy people showing up where she lives... Curious where the dramatizing is coming in.

Hmm, maybe I said it in the wrong way. It's certainly true that all of those things have happened. But it's also true that these events aren't real dangers for Sania, and the media over-dramatizes them. I mean almost every Indian cricketer has been burnt in effigy one time or another. Well, maybe not the venerable Tendulkar (I hate the guy! ), but almost everyone else. The fatwa was real, but it came from a far-right extremist Muslim cleric and many influential Muslims condemned it. I don't think the fatwa came from like a heavyweight cleric, and it hasn't affected Sania at all. About this case, you have to almost expect that there will be crazy people like this guy, and you have to have the right security to not let them enter the house.

I guess I shouldn't have said that Sania was dramatizing the events. But the media, I think, sometimes makes too big a deal of them, when you have to nearly expect them living in a country which has a billion people and you are the only well-known sportswoman. Of course, the "well-known" part will soon be under danger....